"Two top House Democrats are asking Congress for additional funds for the Department of Interior (DOI) top watchdog following a steep increase in investigation requests.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman TJ Cox (D-Calif.) sent a joint letter to the House Committee on Appropriations Tuesday asking for $2.5 million in additional funding for the Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

“The funds would allow the OIG to meet the growing need to address oversight of grants, cybersecurity, and the bureaus with troubling track records, as well as potential ethical lapses, conflicts of interest, waste, fraud, mismanagement, and abuse at DOI,” the lawmakers wrote.

In their request, the lawmakers note that the OIG received only a 2 percent increase in funding between fiscal years 2015 and 2018, and, during that time period, complaints filed against Interior increased 48 percent."

Miranda Green reports for The Hill April 2, 2019. [2]