Calling Congressional Oversight – Anybody There?
If nothing else becomes of the Dept. of Government Efficiency (DOGE), what it has done already is show how little oversight Congress has been exercising.
Oversight is a vital function of the United States Congress, designed to ensure that the executive branch and its various agencies operate effectively, efficiently, and in accordance with the law. This process involves reviewing, monitoring, and supervising the implementation of public policy, government operations, and expenditures. Oversight is crucial for maintaining a system of checks and balances, fostering transparency, and preventing abuse of power.
Some of the expenditures exposed in such a short time by DOGE should make us all realize that the government in general, and Congress in particular, in what it has been doing – and not been doing – leaves fulfilling the oversight idea lacking. Voters feel scammed in many instances. Congress is spending our money without ensuring the money is being spent as was intended when appropriated.
Congress employs various mechanisms to conduct oversight, including:
- Hearings and Investigations: Congressional committees hold hearings and conduct investigations to gather information, question government officials, and examine issues of public concern. These activities often lead to reports and recommendations for legislative or administrative action.
- Reports and Audits: Congress relies on reports and audits from agencies such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to assess government performance and identify problems.
- Budgetary Control: Through the appropriations process, Congress exercises control over the funding of government programs and agencies. This power allows Congress to influence policy implementation and ensure that expenditures align with legislative priorities.
None of those procedures are working satisfactorily, obviously.
Expenditures outside the scope of appropriations and intent of the duly passed laws are apparently wholesale within the bureaucracy. I won’t try to list the specifics of some of the stomach-turning disclosures of DOGE thus far. Suffice it to say the public was/is not only unaware but is directly opposed to much of the apparent bureaucratic agenda advanced by agencies and departments of the executive branch.
This stuff is what is referred to as “the swamp” in Washington.
We’ve cited some structure and procedures that Congress supposedly uses to fulfill its oversight function. But those are far from other mechanisms in place to expose and ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
There’s the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. The CBO was created as a nonpartisan agency by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. While its primary function is to forecast the effects and costs of various Congressional proposals and passed legislation, it has a role in accessing effectiveness – impact.
But that only scratches the surface of supposed oversight.
In addition, the federal government has 74 Inspector Generals (IGs).
Statutory IGs—established by law rather than administrative directive—are intended to be independent, nonpartisan officials who aim to prevent and detect waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. To execute their missions, offices of inspectors general exist – on paper at least – to conduct various reviews of agency programs and operations—including audits, investigations, inspections, and evaluations—and provide findings and recommendations to improve them. IGs possess several authorities to carry out their respective missions, such as the ability to independently hire staff, access relevant agency records and information, and report findings and recommendations directly to Congress and the president.
I don’t know if IGs have been reporting to Congress with similar info and findings as those uncovered by DOGE thus far. I would guess not, as there was, and is, significant Congressional support for DOGE with little or no mention of IGs or other procedures.
All these oversight activities cited are supposedly geared to provide accountability, transparency, and efficiency.
How can those conditions be considered partisan? They can’t – when one is serious about government and taxpayer monies. Yet DOGE has become a target for many who view it as a Trump creation and that’s a reason to thereby be opposed.
Frankly, there likely should be some more “firing” in the near future if the CBO and the 74 IG offices don’t pick up where DOGE is going.
Or perhaps the CBO and all those IGs should be combined into a permanent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with the head as a cabinet member – maybe even a volunteer successful businessperson. In any case, effective oversight would foster the transparency, accountability, and efficiency in government and ultimately strengthening the foundation of the American political system.
Further, Congress needs to quit writing ‘blank checks’ in appropriations to Departments and agencies.
We obviously need something that isn’t working now.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
