Congressional Oversight Manual, and More from CRS
The Congressional Research Service has just updated its Congressional Oversight Manual, which details the considerable legal authorities, legislative instruments and investigative tools for conducting oversight that members of Congress and congressional committees have at their disposal. See “Congressional Oversight Manual” (pdf), May 19, 2011.
Other new or newly updated CRS reports of interest include the following (all pdf):
“Building the Capacity of Partner States Through Security Force Assistance,” May 5, 2011.
“Department of Defense Trends in Overseas Contract Obligations,” May 16, 2011.
“Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis,” May 13, 2011.
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.