WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nominee to serve as the special inspector general for the Treasury Department’s $500 billion pandemic recovery fund vowed on Tuesday to be fair and impartial in his efforts to combat misuse of the bailout money, telling a Senate committee that he would resign if the White House pressured him to overlook wrongdoing.
During two hours of intense questioning at his confirmation hearing, Brian D. Miller, who currently serves as a White House lawyer, tried to defuse fears that he would not be independent enough for the prominent oversight role and to alleviate concerns among senators and watchdog groups that he put Mr. Trump’s interests ahead of those of American taxpayers.
“I will be independent,” Mr. Miller said. “If the president removes me, he removes me. If I am unable to do my job, I will resign.”
Lawmakers created the inspector general role to oversee disbursement of the huge sums of money that the government is quickly rolling out the door to bail out corporations battered by the coronavirus crisis. Mr. Miller would be in charge of overseeing funds that are part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package that Congress passed in March, including money that is being used to support the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facilities, and loans and grants to airlines and other companies that are deemed critical to national security.
While there is broad agreement in Congress that oversight is needed, there is growing concern among some Democrats and watchdog groups that the inspector general could be constrained in what information is provided to Congress.
In a signing statement released hours after Mr. Trump signed the stimulus law in a televised ceremony in the Oval Office, the president suggested that he had the power to decide what information a newly created inspector general intended to monitor the funds could share with Congress.
Mr. Miller faced an array of questions about the statement, his role in the White House Counsel’s Office and Mr. Trump’s recent firings of inspectors general. In many cases Mr. Miller, who vowed to be transparent, offered evasive answers or said he could not discuss matters related to his work inside the White House.
“We cannot tolerate businesses and their workers suffering to protect the president, his family or their allies, because of corruption, misuse or favoritism,” said Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee. “Mr. Miller, if you are confirmed, I expect you to follow the letter and spirit of the law, and serve the American people — not President Trump.”
When asked if he would seek presidential approval before undertaking investigations, issuing reports or communicating information to Congress, Mr. Miller said he would not. That appeared to put him in conflict with Mr. Trump, who said in the March statement that he had the authority to muzzle the new inspector general.
“I do not understand, and my administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the S.I.G.P.R. to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required” by a clause of the Constitution that instructs the president to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, the statement said, using the acronym for the newly created position.
Mr. Miller insisted that he would follow the laws that govern inspectors general, including a requirement to report to Congress any wrongdoing that he uncovered. He said that direct interference in such matters by Mr. Trump would be a “serious issue” and that it would not deter him.
“I will report any undue influence on me, from whatever source,” Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Miller brings strong credentials to the job. A former federal prosecutor, he also served as the inspector general of the General Services Administration from 2005 to 2014, overseeing a sprawling agency in charge of the federal government’s real estate. At the hearing, Mr. Miller said that in that role, he was unflinching in the face of political pressure or criticism.
In 2018, Mr. Miller joined the White House Counsel’s Office and worked on the team that defended Mr. Trump during his impeachment proceedings before Congress. On one occasion last year, he rejected an oversight request from the Government Accountability Office. He has also publicly warned that congressional oversight efforts are often politically motivated, casting doubts about his willingness to comply with requests for information if confirmed.
Asked whether he had stonewalled impeachment-related inquiries for Mr. Trump, Mr. Miller said that he was merely “answering the mail.” He declined to elaborate on his role, citing privacy concerns.
The confirmation hearing came at a time of high turnover for inspectors general, many of whom have been under fire from Mr. Trump.
In recent weeks, Mr. Trump fired the intelligence community inspector general whose insistence on telling lawmakers about a whistle-blower complaint about his dealings with Ukraine prompted impeachment proceedings last fall. He also ousted Glenn A. Fine, the acting inspector general for the Defense Department who was set to lead the new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. And last week, Mr. Trump replaced Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services who angered him with a report last month highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Miller declined to weigh in on those decisions, explaining that he did not know the details of each case but assuring lawmakers that he would be independent even if it cost him the job.
“At the end of the day, you have to be comfortable with your own conscience,” he said.
On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, there was a growing chorus of calls for greater oversight of how the bailout money was being spent.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Small Business Committee, tried to pass legislation that would create more transparency over how small-business loans were being distributed by the Small Business Administration with regular public reporting requirements. However, Senate Republicans warned that it could slow the agency’s ability to distribute loans and blocked the bill.
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