This is another in a series of editorials taking a closer examination into aspects of the massive coronavirus relief bill. Today’s editorial examines accountability provisions.

In approving the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress inserted several layers of accountability designed to prevent abuse and fraud.

The CARES Act oversight provisions are central to transparency. That transparency allows American taxpayers to follow their money as it flows from government coffers to businesses, states, municipalities and individuals. It also provides assurances the money gets spent as intended.

In addition to the congressional committees reviewing CARES Act spending, two new oversight mechanisms were added:

• A Pandemic Response Accountability Committee overseen by the federal Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

• A Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery for the Department of Treasury. The watchdog role is designed to prevent fraud and abuse in the distribution of the $500 billion.

It should come as no surprise that President Donald Trump has other ideas about who should be monitoring his administration’s performance in distributing the government relief. Trump is working on several fronts to undermine the oversight provisions and weaken crucial safeguards. His actions are creating ample opportunities for financial mischief.

Within hours after signing the CARES Act on March 27, Trump issued a signing statement designed to impede the independence of the Special Inspector General. Trump’s statement asserted that he had the power to decide what information the inspector general could share with Congress.

His next move happened Monday when Trump nominated a loyal aide, White House lawyer Brian D. Miller, to be that Special Inspector General whose independence he undermined with the signing statement.

Inspectors general are supposed to be independent and apolitical. Miller is neither. Miller is a special assistant to Trump and senior associate in the Office of White House Counsel. He worked on the successful effort by the White House to withhold documents to the House during Trump’s impeachment investigation. If that isn’t a “conflict of interest,” then the phrase has lost its meaning. The Senate must reject Miller’s nomination.

On Tuesday, Trump made an even bolder move by firing the inspector general who was appointed as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Glenn Fine, the acting Pentagon inspector general for four years, was unceremoniously relieved by Trump without explanation.

Trump’s power plays send a clear and disturbing signal. Trump wants authority over not only the distribution of $2.2 trillion in new federal coronavirus subsidies, but also the last word on oversight of that distribution.

Trump’s bid to rid himself of accountability should generate a heated battle with Congress. Democrats, for sure, are raising a stink. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) exhorted his Republican colleagues to “take a stand now as the President sidelines serious scrutiny over the largest relief funding bill in American history.”

Senior Senate Democrats, Blumenthal among them, independently are lobbying Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to honor the oversight terms of the CARES Act that he negotiated. Democrats twice blocked approval on the package as they insisted on stronger oversight provisions. Democrats had a vivid memory of Trump stonewalling congressional oversight in the impeachment investigations. They justifiably feared Trump would do the same with the corporate bailout program.

Mnuchin agreed to the Democrats oversight provisions. Trump’s signing statement is a direct contradiction of the intent of those oversight provisions.

Trump’s signing statement, his nomination of a loyalist as an inspector general, and his subsequent firing of Inspector General Fine give credence to suspicions that Trump will treat the federal bailout money like his personal slush fund.

There are no signs of good faith with this president. His disdain for constitutional checks and balances is in plain view. Trillions of dollars in Trump’s hands, unchecked and unaccountable, is an open invitation to irresponsible behavior. It is a fox-in-the-henhouse moment.

The CARES Act is a massive and necessary federal intervention to rescue American people, American businesses, and the American economy from the havoc inflicted by the pandemic. Every citizen should have a keen interest in understanding how this money is spent, and how well the public need is served. If the urgency of the funding distribution leads to waste and fraud, those transgressions must come to light.

The situation demands transparency and accountability to protect taxpayer money. The CARE Acts oversight provisions were written with those interests in mind. Trump’s efforts to undermine that accountability must not stand. Senate Republicans should set partisan politics aside and join Democrats in acting as a check on this abuse of executive power.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.