Pentagon watchdog tapped to lead committee overseeing $2 trillion coronavirus package

The nation's top government watchdogs on Monday appointed Glenn Fine, the acting inspector general for the Pentagon, to lead the newly created committee that oversees implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill signed by President Donald Trump last week.

Fine will lead a panel of fellow inspectors general, dubbed the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and command an $80 million budget meant to "promote transparency and support oversight" of the massive disaster response legislation. His appointment was made by a fellow committee of inspectors general, assigned by the new law to pick a chairman of the committee.

Fine, who served as Justice Department inspector general from 2000 to 2011 — spanning parts of the Clinton, Bush and Obama presidencies — will join nine other inspectors general on the new committee. They include the IGs of the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, and the Treasury; the inspector general of the Small Business Administration; and the Treasury inspector general for Tax Administration.