Congressional OversightNova Publishers, 2002 - 141 strani Throughout history congress has engaged in oversight of the executive branch -- the review, monitoring and supervision of the implementation of public policy. The first several Congresses inaugurated important oversight techniques as special investigations, reporting requirements, resolutions of inquiry, and use of the appropriations process to review executive activity. Contemporary developments, moreover, have increased the legislature's capacity and capabilities to check on and check the Executive. Public laws and congressional rules have measurably enhanced Congress's implied power under the Constitution to conduct oversight. Despite its lengthy heritage, oversight was not given explicit recognition in public law until enactment of the Legislative Reorganisation Act of 1946. That act required House and a Senate standing committees to exercise 'continuous watchfulness' over programs and agencies within their jurisdiction. Since the late 1960s Congress has shown increasing interest in oversight for several major reasons. These include the expansion in number and complexity of federal programs and agencies; increase in expenditures and personnel, including contract employees; rise (until recently) in the budget deficit; and the frequency divided government, with Congress and the White House controlled by different parties. Major partisan disagreements over priorities and processes also heighten conflict between the legislature and the executive. Oversight occurs in virtually any congressional activity and through a wide variety of channels, organisations, and structures. These range from formal committee hearings to informal Member contracts with executive officials, from staff studies to support agency reviews, and from casework conducted by Member offices to studies prepared by non-congressional entities, such as statutory commissions and offices of inspector general. |
Vsebina
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Congressional Participants in Oversight | 14 |
Selected Readings | 16 |
II Oversight Coordination and Processes | 19 |
Oversight Processes | 20 |
Selected Readings | 28 |
C Casework | 69 |
E Monitoring the Federal Register | 71 |
F Special Studies and Investigations by Staff Support Agencies Outside Contractors and Others | 72 |
H Statutory Offices of Inspector General | 77 |
I Reporting Consultation and Other Sources of Information | 83 |
J Resolutions of Inquiry | 87 |
K Limitations and Riders on Appropriations | 88 |
L Legislative Veto and Advance Notice | 89 |
III Investigative Oversight | 31 |
B The Tools of Oversight | 32 |
C Enforcement of the Investigative Power | 35 |
D Executive Privilege and Common Law Testimonial Privileges | 37 |
E Investigative Oversight Hearings | 43 |
F Specialized Investigations | 45 |
G Role of MinorityParty Members in the Investigative Process | 48 |
Selected Readings | 50 |
Appendix A | 53 |
Appendix B | 63 |
Appendix C | 65 |
IV Selected Oversight Techniques | 67 |
B Orientation and Periodic Review Hearings with Agencies | 68 |
M Independent Counsel | 91 |
Selected Readings | 94 |
V Oversight Information Sources and Consultant Services | 101 |
B Congressional Budget Office CBO | 113 |
C Offices of Senate Legal Counsel and House General Counsel | 119 |
D General Accounting Office GAO | 123 |
E Office of Management and Budget OMB | 127 |
F Budget Information | 128 |
G Beneficiaries Private Organizations and Interest Groups | 131 |
Selected Readings | 132 |
Appendix D | 135 |
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Pogosti izrazi in povedi
Accounting action activities addition Administration agencies amended analysis annual appointed Appropriations assistance Attorney audit authority bills budget claims Commission committees communications conduct Cong Congress Congressional Congressional Oversight constitutional consult containing contempt court CRS Report Department determine direct documents effective established estimates evaluation executive branch executive privilege federal function funds Government head hearings House and Senate impeachment independent counsel individual inquiry Inspector institutional interest International investigations issues jurisdiction legislative limits majority Management matter Members objectives Office operations organizations performance person plans practice prepared President presidential Press privilege procedures proceedings programs proposed protect questions referring relating reports Representatives request Research resolution responsibilities role Rule Select Senate committees Service specific staff Stat statements statutory studies subcommittees subpoena testimony United University Washington White House witnesses
Priljubljeni odlomki
Stran 5 - It is the proper duty of a representative body to look ' diligently into every affair of government and to talk much about what it sees. It is meant -to be the eyes and the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its constituents. Unless Congress have and use every means of acquainting itself with the acts and the disposition of the administrative agents of the government the country must be helpless to learn how it is being served; and unless Congress both...
Stran 5 - Instead of the function of governing, for which it is radically unfit, the proper office of a representative assembly is to watch and control the government: to throw the light of publicity on its acts: to compel a full exposition and justification of all of them which any one considers questionable; to censure them if found condemnable, and, if the men who compose the government abuse their trust, or fulfil it in a manner which conflicts with the deliberate sense of the nation, to expel them from...