Report: CBO exposed to conflicts of interest

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) seems to lack a policy about conflicts of interest for outside advisers, the Morning Consult reported Monday.

The CBO has two panels of outside consultants consisting of three dozen people, most of whom are economists with Ph.D.s, the report noted. The panels allegedly aren’t required to inform the CBO about other projects they’re working on, whether it’s for a private industry or the executive branch.

{mosads}A spokeswoman for the CBO declined to comment to Morning Consult about whether the agency reviews the consultants’ activities or requires them to inform the agency about conflicts of interest. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement that he will look into the issue.

“CBO, Congress and the public should have the benefit of knowing whether panelists are independent. It’s not clear why CBO can’t comment on whether it has a conflict of interest policy for advisory panelists. That seems like a matter of basic transparency. If there is no conflict of interest policy, that would be troubling. I intend to look into this matter further.”

Republicans have complained about the lack of transparency at the CBO, and some have argued that’s one reason to replace its current director, Doug Elmendorf.

That decision has not yet been made even though his term expired in early January. The chairmen of the House and Senate Budget committees, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) respectively, can recommend whether to keep or replace him. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are tasked with making the final decision.