Foster appointed to coronavirus oversight committee

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, is one of six Democrats appointed Wednesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to oversee relief spending during the new coronavirus pandemic.

The panel, created last week by a party-line vote, is intended to focus on how the Trump administration spends the recently approved $2 trillion stimulus package. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., will serve as its chair.

“In the midst of an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, it’s critical to ensure taxpayer dollars being spent to confront the pandemic and provide economic relief for families and small businesses are being spent effectively and as intended,” Foster said in a statement.

Republicans have called the panel an unnecessary redundancy, citing a previously created five-member panel of bipartisan lawmakers charged with overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout loans for corporations, in addition to a recently created panel of inspectors general and a third oversight post named the special inspector general for pandemic recovery.

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