Par for the course

Congressional leaders have appointed just one of five members to a commission to serve as lawmakers' eyes on Trump administration decisions for a $500 billion fund for distressed industries. An inspector general nominated by President Donald Trump intended to provide a second check has already generated controversy among Democrats and is unlikely to see swift Senate confirmation. And a panel of federal watchdogs meant to be a third independent overseer was upended Tuesday when Trump sidelined its chairman, setting back the one mechanism that appeared on track to begin oversight.

Trump has also indicated he might ignore additional protections built into the law meant to keep Congress apprised of any concerns about mismanagement, issuing a signing statement that said it would be unconstitutional to require Executive Branch watchdogs to report any obstruction in their investigations, unless Trump himself approves.

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The challenge of implementing the small business loan program surfaced vividly last week, when the Small Business Administration delivered guidelines to banks just hours before they were due to turn on the spigot. As of Wednesday, banks said they still lacked critical information needed to close out loans and that SBA's loan authorization system continued to malfunction.

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The CARES Act included a provision meant to provide relief to companies by allowing them to get tax refunds by redoing their previous year’s taxes to include their current losses. There's one glaring problem: The companies are required to file for those refunds on paper and mail them in — and most IRS employees are working from home. There's virtually no one there to pick up the mail.

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Meanwhile, the IRS is still figuring out how to quickly parcel out the cash payments the new law promised to individuals and families across the country. The agency intends to deliver as many as possible via direct deposit, which would expedite those payments. But for many low-income Americans who don't file tax returns, the IRS would likely not have direct deposit info. So the agency is setting up a website to collect banking information in order to more quickly process the checks, but there’s no timeline on when that will be up and running.

The CARES Act included $29 billion in an immediate infusion for passenger and cargo airlines, funding meant to quickly shore up the industry's cratering finances by paying workers' salaries and preventing layoffs. But even though the money was due to begin flowing earlier this week, it hasn't happened yet, and airlines are still in talks with the Trump administration over the terms.

  Politico

When Congress can appropriate funds and yet the executive branch can disperse them, there's a problem. We saw it already in the Ukraine debacle. Now we're seeing it again. A reminder that our executive branch has been running historically on the honor system.

The law included $31 billion in emergency education assistance, much of it earmarked for states, K-12 schools, universities and direct aid for college students. But so far, there's been no funding distributed by the Education Department and there's been no guidance about how or when that money might arrive.

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Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Jay Inslee of Washington over the weekend wrote a letter on behalf of governors, urging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to provide the funding “within the next two weeks.” But DeVos hasn’t given any indication she’s on board, meaning the relief money is still just sitting there.

Also, signing statements need to be outlawed.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.