Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal said Thursday they want to investigate former White House chief of staff John Kelly’s new position on the board of directors for a company that runs migrant shelters.
Mr. Kelly left the Trump administration in December and last month joined Caliburn International, which is the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services. That group runs three immigrant shelters in Texas and Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in Florida, which has over 3,000 beds.
In a letter, Ms. Jayapal and Ms. Warren argued it was inappropriate for Mr. Kelly to have an influential role in a company that earns a profit from policies he helped to craft and implement both at the White House and before, when he was Homeland Security secretary.
They called the arrangement “outrageous.”
They asked Jim Van Dusen, Caliburn International’s chief executive officer, to divulge when the company began negotiating to bring Mr. Kelly onto their board and how much he will be paid.
They gave Mr. Van Dusen until June 20th to respond.
Ms. Warren and Ms. Jayapal said legislation they wrote last year would have blocked Mr. Kelly from joining the board. That bill included a lifetime ban on members of Congress, former presidents and high-level administration officials from joining lobbying groups.
“We intend to keep working to make that plan law so that actions like General Kelly’s rapid, cynical and unethical shift from the government payroll to the contractor’s payroll are no longer allowed,” the lawmakers wrote.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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