Ernst, Grassley Demand Accountability on ATF’s Unlawful Misclassification Scandal

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are pushing for accountability after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) decided to reinstate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) position classification authority, even after claims that ATF repeatedly and unlawfully labeled administrative positions as “law enforcement,”costing taxpayers at least $20 million. 

“Appropriate corrective action must be taken in regards to all employees that allowed taxpayer dollars to be wasted after notification of the aforementioned misconduct,” the senators wrote. “The American public must know ATF will not revert to its previous impropriety after the restoration of its classification authority.”

The senators are revealing the far-reaching failures among the agencies and demanding OPM release the full, unredacted Human Capital Management Evaluation (HCME) audit, and questioning why ATF’s five-year position classification review has been put on hold and for the Justice Management Division (JDM) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide all documents related to the classification of law enforcement positions.

View the letters to the ATF, DOJ’s JDM, and OPM.

Background:

Last year, Ernst called out the ATF for posing as law enforcement to scam taxpayers and followed up earlier this year by demanding corrective action.

Ernst previously blasted ATF’s unwarranted “knock and talk” tactics in which ATF agents in full gear visit private residences without a warrant to request that residents show a recently purchased firearm as proof they did not conduct a straw purchase.

Ernst and Grassley previously grilled the agency for inappropriately targeting federal firearms license (FFL) holders and stifling Second Amendment rights by abusing its federal regulatory powers.

To protect gun dealers, Ernst introduced her Fighting Irrational Regulatory Enforcement to Avert Retailers’ Misfortune (FIREARM) Act which would create a safe harbor for lawful gun dealers at risk of having their federal firearm license stripped for a single, minor, clerical error.

###