“I believe that the first order of business when we reorganize after the first of the year is congressional oversight,” said Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) on November 10 after it became clear that Democrats would control the Senate and House in the next Congress.
“There simply has been no oversight in recent years,” Sen. Reid said.
That of course is an exaggeration. Even on the narrow subject of government secrecy, for example, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) held multiple oversight hearings over the last two years that substantially enriched the public record.
But it is nevertheless true that congressional oversight atrophied under Republican leadership and that many fateful national policy decisions escaped scrutiny or challenge. That is expected to change as Democrats take charge in January.
New members and staff may need to learn or relearn the tools and techniques of oversight.
Beginning with the basics, the Congressional Research Service explains: “Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation.”
More simply still: “Oversight is a way for Congress to check on, and check, the executive.”
A 146 page manual prepared by CRS in 2004 describes the purposes and practices of congressional oversight in detail.
See “Congressional Oversight Manual” (pdf), October 21, 2004.
See also “Congressional Oversight” (pdf), updated January 3, 2006.
After months of delay, the council tasked by President Trump to review the FEMA released its final report. Our disaster policy nerds have thoughts.
FAS and FLI partnered to build a series of convenings and reports across the intersections of artificial intelligence (AI) with biosecurity, cybersecurity, nuclear command and control, military integration, and frontier AI governance. This project brought together leaders across these areas and created a space that was rigorous, transpartisan, and solutions-oriented to approach how we should think about how AI is rapidly changing global risks.
Investment should instead be directed at sectors where American technology and innovation exist but the infrastructure to commercialize them domestically does not—and where the national security case is clear.
To tune into the action on the ground, we convened practitioners, state and local officials, advocates, and policy experts to discuss what it will actually take to deploy clean energy faster, modernize electricity systems, and lower costs for households.