Los Angeles Mayor Bass Declines House DOGE Subcommittee Testimony on LAHSA

The refusal adds a procedural friction point to two parallel federal inquiries examining Los Angeles homelessness spending and the January 2025 Palisades Fire, raising questions about document...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declined on Monday, September 8, 2026, to testify before the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, known as the DOGE Subcommittee, regarding waste, fraud, and abuse allegations within the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, according to a report by the New York Post dated September 8, 2026 (New York Post).

The LAHSA is a joint-powers authority funded by both the City and County of Los Angeles. It serves as the primary agency coordinating federal, state, and local homeless services funding in the region. Federal funds flow to LAHSA in part through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, making congressional oversight of expenditures a permissible exercise of the appropriations power under Article I of the Constitution.

Separately, on Tuesday, September 9, 2026, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) stated that Mayor Bass had not produced documents requested in connection with a Senate investigation into the Palisades Fire, according to the same New York Post report. Senator Scott is conducting that inquiry alongside Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI). The Palisades Fire, which began in January 2025, caused extensive destruction in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The two inquiries are procedurally distinct. The House DOGE Subcommittee request concerns LAHSA financial management, while the Scott-Johnson Senate inquiry focuses on emergency preparedness and response decisions surrounding the Palisades Fire. It is not confirmed in available public records whether the two investigations have formally coordinated their document requests or subpoena strategies.

Congressional subpoenas to state and local officials occupy a contested legal space. Courts have generally held that Congress may subpoena individuals and entities with connections to federal spending, but direct compulsion of a sitting mayor involves separation-of-powers and federalism considerations that have produced varied outcomes in prior cases. Whether the House DOGE Subcommittee has issued or intends to issue a formal subpoena to Mayor Bass is not confirmed in the source material reviewed for this article.

The LAHSA fiscal year 2024-2025 budget was approximately $856 million, according to budget documents published by the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office. A portion of that total represents federal Pass-through funding from HUD, including grants under the Continuum of Care program. The specific dollar amounts subject to the congressional inquiry have not been publicly specified in available subcommittee records as of publication.

Mayor Bass took office in December 2022 after defeating developer Rick Caruso in the November 2022 general election. She was abroad in Ghana at the time the Palisades Fire broke out in January 2025, a fact that drew public criticism at the time. Her office has previously stated that city emergency systems were activated appropriately during her absence, though that account has been disputed by some local officials and residents.

Senator Scott chairs no standing Senate committee with direct jurisdiction over Los Angeles fire response, but senators may conduct oversight inquiries and request documents through their committee assignments and the broader investigative authority of the Senate. Senator Johnson is the senior Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has broad authority to examine government operations. Public confirmation of whether that subcommittee has formally voted to authorize document requests in this matter is not available in the source material.

The House DOGE Subcommittee was established in the 119th Congress as part of the majority's government efficiency agenda. Its jurisdiction covers waste, fraud, and abuse across federal and federally funded programs. Subcommittee hearing records, including any formal invitation or subpoena correspondence sent to Mayor Bass, are available through the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's public portal but had not been posted as of the time of this report.

What remains unknown as of September 9, 2026: whether either chamber has issued a formal subpoena to Mayor Bass or LAHSA; the specific documents requested by Senators Scott and Johnson and their deadline for production; whether the Mayor's office has provided any partial document production; and the precise federal dollar amounts under scrutiny. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's official document repository and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' public records would be the primary sources to resolve those questions.