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𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐏𝐒 $𝟏𝐁 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 — 𝐋𝐀𝐇𝐒𝐀 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 Karen Bass had one job Tuesday: sit before Congress and explain what happened to more than $1 billion in federal homelessness money her own agency can't account for. Instead, the Los Angeles mayor skipped the hearing entirely for a ribbon-cutting event across town — and House investigators weren't having it. "𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬," Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said, opening the hearing without her. The timing wasn't subtle. Bass had sat on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's governing board since she appointed herself to it in 2023 — until last week, the moment Burchett invited her to testify. She resigned from LAHSA days before the hearing, then announced Monday night she'd be attending a Palisades groundbreaking instead of facing the subcommittee. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert called the no-show what it was: "𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵," not a scheduling conflict. South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace agreed: "𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺." Then, on the very day the hearing convened, LAHSA quietly withdrew the federal funding request that was the entire subject of the proceeding. Burchett's committee says the agency still hasn't turned over documents tied to allegations of waste, fraud, and self-dealing among the nonprofits it funds — including a downtown high-rise headquarters with a private helipad and a fleet of chauffeured 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬-𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐬 for tenants. "𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘩, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥," Burchett told the room. The human cost sat in a plastic bag on the witness table. Journalist Jonathan Choe, who has spent months documenting Skid Row, handed lawmakers a harm-reduction kit and let them find the contents themselves. "𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘪𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥," Burchett said. A Cicero Institute fellow testified LA has burned through roughly $2 billion in federal homelessness funds since 2005 — and unsheltered homelessness has still climbed 𝟏𝟑𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭. Bass's office answered from a distance, calling the hearing "𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘈𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯." What her statement didn't explain: why the agency she helped run withdrew its own billion-dollar funding request 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞.