Federal Watchdog Uncovers MORE Evidence of the Biden Admin’s Cozy Relationship with Special Interests

Documents obtained by PPT reveal Treasury officials’ reliance on nongovernmental organizations to develop policy, push back politically, and more.

When someone is hired by the President of the United States, any reasonable person would assume that the individual tasked with the job would be performing the work him- or herself. Unfortunately, in the Biden Administration, that was far too often not the case.

Federal government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) has uncovered even more evidence of the Biden Administration’s disturbing penchant for appointing officials with cozy relationships to special interest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). New FOIA documents revealed that Natasha Sarin, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s counselor for tax policy and implementation (whom PPT has written about before) heavily relied on special interest groups including Public Citizen and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) to assist her in her official duties, including the crafting of policy, media work, and pushing back against opposition members of Congress.

On November 9, 2021, emails between CBPP senior vice president for government affairs Ellen Nissenbaum and CBPP vice president for federal tax policy Chuck Marr discussed Ms. Sarin, including a call with her the previous evening. Ms. Nissenbaum told Mr. Marr that Ms. Sarin said the Treasury Department “are seeing Repubs shift their attacks from the IRS enforcement to the IRS money” and that the department “is worried Repubs will attack the [Office of Tax Analysis (OTA)] estimate and point to the forthcoming lower estimate of savings when the [Congressional Budget Office (CBO)] is out.” Ms. Nissenbaum also wrote that Ms. Sarin noted Republicans like then-Ohio Senator Rob Portman and others argued the CBO “was too conservative in its estimates” of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and that Treasury officials were looking to preemptively craft messaging ahead of the CBO scores. Mr. Marr said they were “drafting a blog” to push back against Republican messaging while Ms. Nissenbaum sent a “your eyes only” message to Ms. Sarin to gather quotes for the political messaging blog. Ms. Sarin replied, noting the Treasury Department was putting together a document for the organization, and thanked the pair for their work.

On May 16, 2022, Ms. Sarin and Ms. Nissenbaum discussed a meeting Ms. Sarin was planning with “a few key outside folks,” including the president of CBPP. The next day, Treasury official Antonio White emailed Public Citizen’s Congress Watch managing director Susan Harley discussing the “two-way dialogue on Treasury’s efforts to modernize the IRS and promote equity in the process.” Mr. White claimed the IRS was moving into a “developing role as a benefits administrator” within the government and economy and that the department thinks “about the importance of overhauling tax enforcement to create a more equitable tax code, and the importance of investing in the IRS’s efforts here.”

In addition to relying on special interests to help her with her job, Ms. Sarin also appeared to be in regular contact with former Obama Treasury Secretary and White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew before he became President Biden’s Ambassador to Israel.

In a December 2022 email exchange, with Ms. Nissenbaum and lobbyist and former Obama Treasury official Victoria Esser, Ms. Sarin discussed a response to a press release from the House Ways and Means Committee Republicans. Ms. Esser wrote that “Jack” — likely Mr. Lew — “asked [her] to coordinate” with Ms. Sarin and Ms. Nissenbaum “on the best response” to the press release and asked for help. Ms. Nissenbaum also asked Ms. Sarin in a reply if she is “doing anything for Dems in response to this.”

“Once again, we have found evidence of Biden Administration officials pawning off their work to special interest groups,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain said. “While it’s not unusual for agency officials to seek advice and expertise from outside individuals and groups, the level of coordination and collaboration that appears to have happened in this instance is nothing short of disturbing. Federal officials even resorted to providing messaging for an outside organization to push back against criticism. The American people deserve better than a government run by activist groups.”

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