Sen. Merkley presses Mr. Duncan over six unanswered OMB letters; Duncan pledges quicker replies

Sen. Merkley pressed Mr. Duncan about what he described as an ‘‘0-for-6’’ record on congressional correspondence, saying, “None of the letters I’ve sent — and I have all six letters to OMB — none of them have been responded to.” Merkley asked whether, in Mr. Duncan’s new role overseeing legislative affairs, he would ensure that letters from members of Congress receive timely replies.

Mr. Duncan replied that some of the letters sought pre-decisional or deliberative material or related to court actions, but said OMB is “committed to improving our letter process.” He added that the agency is “in the process of implementing a new process to speed up response timelines to letters” and said he looked forward to working with Merkley on that effort.

Context: The exchange came during questioning about Mr. Duncan’s recent assignment of duties; Merkley said Congress learned months after November that Duncan had been delegated legislative-affairs responsibilities and argued that the delayed notification impeded congressional oversight. Mr. Duncan said he was delegated duties in Dan Bishop’s absence and that his nomination went up in April; he offered to provide the precise delegation timeline after the hearing.

What was not decided: No formal commitment with a deadline was provided on when individual outstanding letters would be answered, and Mr. Duncan asked to follow up with exact dates and records after the hearing.

Why it matters: Congressional offices rely on timely responses from the Office of Management and Budget to clarify budgetary and programmatic decisions. Merkley framed the lack of responses as an impediment to legislative oversight; Mr. Duncan described internal changes intended to address the problem.

Ending: Mr. Duncan said he would follow up after the hearing with specific delegation dates and the committee did not receive a firm timeline for replies to the previously submitted letters.