Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, told his colleagues in the Senate Tuesday that more than $12,000 "misused" taxpayer funds were withheld from fired architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton's final paycheck.
"When dealing with trillions of dollars in government spending, a dozen-or-so thousand can seem like an insignificant amount," NBC News reported Grassley saying in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday. "However, this amount would be important to a family struggling to make ends meet in a time of record inflation and price hikes."
According to the report, Grassley said that acting Capitol architect Chere Rexroat sent him a letter on April 21 informing the committee that $12,516.76 was withheld from Blanton's final check to repay the government for several instances where taxpayer funds were misused, including driving government vehicles 19,000 more miles than the allotted 10,000 miles.
The misuse of funds came to light through a report by the Office of Inspector General in 2022 that found Blanton allowing his daughter, and other family members, to use his government assigned vehicle in March, 2021, and at other times through several states, according to the IG report.
The report also found that he misrepresented himself as a law enforcement officer, and used his position to offer people tours of the Capitol complex during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden fired Blanton, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, from his 10-year position in February.
"After doing our due diligence, the Architect of [the] Capitol was terminated at the President's direction," a White House official said in a statement to NBC News at the time.
Grassley sent Blanton a letter at that time demanding he repay the more than $12,000 in taxpayer funds the report found him inappropriately using.
"As of today, more than two months later, he's failed to respond to my inquiry and my staff's attempts to contact him," Grassley said, according to the NBC News report. "He also has made no effort to repay the money he owes the American people."
In February, the news outlet reported Blanton saying during a hearing that he did not do anything unethical and expressed his frustration with the IG report.
"[I am] frustrated by the current distraction created by the inspector general's report," NBC News reported him saying during the hearing. "I wholeheartedly reject any assertion I have engaged in unethical behavior during my service to this country."
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