At a panel discussion I attended last week, a congressional expert noted that a primary function of Congress, oversight of the executive branch, has been badly neglected for years. So, I'm disappointed that two of my heroes in Congress - Henry Waxman and Tom Davis - have chosen to pursue an investigation of Roger Clemens (not a hero). Here's what my favorite baseball blogger wrote from spring training:
USA Today is dropped at the hotel door five days a week. The front page today detailed that two Congressional committees are investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. The story next to it was about how many troops are being sent to Iraq without the proper equipment and that is leading to needless injuries and deaths. ... Sorry about your son's leg, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. But you'll be happy to know that your government is hot on the case of that menace to society Roger Clemens.
Subpoenas! All over the place! White House aides, Justice Department officials, political appointees, Pentagon bigwigs...you name it, there's a Congressional committee that wants to ask them questions.
Republican leaders call it a "partisan witch hunt." But Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans, say it is an overdue return to their constitutional role of executive-branch oversight.
Since Democrats assumed control of Congress in January, they have hired more than 200 investigative staffers for key watchdog committees. They include lawyers, former reporters and congressional staffers who left oversight committees that had all but atrophied during the six years that the GOP controlled Congress and the White House.
In a nod to this return to accountability, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) changed the name of the committee he chairs from Committee on Government Reform to Oversight and Government Reform. And to hear Waxman talk, he's definitely taking it seriously:
It's doubtful many of you have ever heard of the House Appropriation Committee's Surveys and Investigations team...I sure hadn't. But it exists, and is tasked with providing oversight of contracts and other appropriations processes. It used to be headed by Robert Pearre, appointed by then-Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA); last fall, Pearre effectively dismantled the unit by firing the majority of its staff without warning.
But it looks like the team is being put back together under new Chairman David Obey's (D-WI) watch - he's just replaced Pearre with his own deputy staff director, David Pomerantz:
A Democratic Appropriations staffer said that the team would be rebuilt, although it is unclear if it will end up larger or smaller than it was before the October firings. "It has to be driven by the oversight needs, and there's a lot of them," [a] staffer said. "S&I is going to be busy and we'll staff up to meet that."
One of the first things they'll reportedly do is complete the Hurricane Katrina probe that was derailed by the firings.
Comptroller David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has, for the first time, sent Congressional leadership a detailed list of areas he believes need more (or any) oversight.
His list, drawn from years of research by the watchdog agency, is intended to give Congress "a jump-start on your planning," he said.
"We cannot afford to continue business as usual in Washington, given our current deficit and growing long-term fiscal challenges," Walker said in the letter, sent this month.
Among specific issues, such as Social Security and Medicare, Walker pinpoints the need for increased oversight of the federal contracting process across all departments and agencies.
Walker recommends that Congress require agencies to report on how they ensure that contractors "are playing appropriate roles." He also urges Congress to ensure that agencies are adequately staffed to monitor contract costs and performance, particularly at critical times, such as hurricane response and the war in Iraq.
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