![]() ![]() Contempt resolutions require a majority vote of all committee members, followed by a majority vote of all members of the House or Senate. And in the Senate, one individual member has the power to halt almost any pending action through the filibuster.Įven Congress’s institutional oversight tools rely on individual members: Congress cannot enforce subpoenas without individual members voting to do so. They often seek information about their districts or states in order to properly represent their constituents. They exercise the core components of legislating - introducing and voting on legislation. Individual members of Congress are the lifeblood of our democratic process. Simply put, the DOJ does not believe that individual members hold the oversight powers of Congress. In several different contexts, the DOJ considers “Congress” to mean only full houses, committees, subcommittees, and their chairs. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) have repeatedly issued opinions undermining the oversight authority of Congress - granting presidential advisors immunity, refusing to punish officials who defy subpoenas, and distorting executive privilege.Īn equally insidious, but less reported, way the executive has eroded oversight is by limiting the scope of what counts as Congress. Unfortunately, in recent years the executive branch has defied the Supreme Court’s admonition and upended the voluntary accommodation process. The executive and legislative branches to avoid these types of conflicts by accommodating each other’s interests instead of coming to court. However, the Supreme Court has held that when the executive branch refuses to cooperate, Congress has the power to compel the production of documents and witnesses through subpoenas. Normally, agencies voluntarily cooperate with congressional oversight requests. This includes obtaining information from the executive branch agencies that run federal programs and spend federal funds - funds that Congress appropriates. If President Joe Biden truly believes, as he’s said, that the executive branch cannot stonewall Congress, his administration should start by recognizing that individual members of Congress have oversight powers.Ĭongress has the constitutional power to conduct oversight. Unfortunately, for decades the executive branch has been refusing requests for information from individual members of Congress who attempt to exercise their oversight responsibilities. One of many practices that requires cooperation is congressional oversight of the executive branch. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.Separation of powers is a cornerstone of our democracy that requires each branch of government to engage the others with respect and comity. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Table E1: Agencies, Clinton-Lewis (2008) Ideologies, and Oversight Volume Table D4: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Oversight Hearings, by Committee-Year Table D3: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Oversight Hearings, by Chamber-Year (Lagged Dependent Variable as Regressor) Table D2: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Oversight Hearings, by Chamber-Year (Alternative Independent Variable) Table D1: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Oversight Hearings, by Chamber-Year (Removing Outlying Observations) Table C1: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Legislative Hearings, by Chamber-Yearįigure D1: Distributions of the Dependent Variable Table B2: Negative Binomial Models of Determinants of Oversight Hearings, by Policy Type Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article: FilenameĪppendix A: An Example of “Retrospective Oversight” ![]()
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