House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone on Friday called on an inspector general to investigate a report that a top health official appointed by President Donald Trump spent millions of taxpayer dollars on GOP communications consultants.

Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, is tapping an inspector general from the Department of Health and Human Services following a Politico report that Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, paid communications consultants to tout the agency's policies and her public image.

Verma's decision to spend money on multiple contracts breaks from tradition at the agency, but is legal. CMS has an in-house press shop with a number of staffers dedicated to working on press matters.

Pallone called the contracts a "highly questionable use of taxpayer dollars" and wants investigators to determine how the contracts got approval and if there was any breach of "regulations and ethical guidelines."

"Given that this agency should be spending tax dollars to ensure Americans can access quality health care, it is particularly egregious that it is using millions to ensure its Administrator has access to outside public relations and image building services," Pallone said in a statement.

"I intend to ask the HHS OIG [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General] to immediately begin an investigation into how these contracts were approved, whether all regulations and ethical guidelines were followed, and why taxpayers are stuck paying for these unnecessary services. This is not the way to drain the swamp."

Verma's office didn't respond to a request for comment on Pallone's forthcoming investigation.

The subcontracts paid for by CMS were part of a larger $2.25 million contract, which Tom Corry, a top CMS spokesman, confirmed to Politico. He added in an interview with the news organization that, "Now that we're fully staffed up, contractor resources are going to be used less than they were."

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In Politico's story, some CMS staffers questioned why Verma was relying on outside consultants, with one official arguing that the top health official can easily get press and interviews because of the high-level job.

"The head of Obamacare doesn't need outside consultants to get reporters to talk to her," a CMS official told Politico. "The job pitches itself."

During her tenure as administrator, Verma has pushed for work requirements for individuals on Medicaid. Prior to that appointment, Verma helped design Indiana's Medicaid plan when Vice President Mike Pence was governor of the state.