Revival of Oversight Role Sought

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/21761

Revival of Oversight Role Sought
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-04-25 14:24. Congress

By Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post

Over the course of only 15 minutes today, three congressional committees will consider subpoenas for half a dozen officials from the White House and the departments of Justice and State. On the list is former presidential chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Justice Department liaison to the White House Monica M. Goodling, a key figure in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

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. They have already begun a series of inquiries on subjects ranging from allegations of administration meddling in federal scientists' work on global warming and the General Services Administration's alleged work for Republican campaigns to how disproved claims that Iraq had purchased nuclear material from Niger evolved into a case for war.

Democrats have been emboldened, investigators say, by their House and Senate judiciary committee colleagues' inquiries into the firings of U.S. attorneys. Last week's day-long testimony by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, some Democrats said, was a reminder of how rare Cabinet-level grillings had become on Capitol Hill. By the end of today, the Senate Judiciary Committee alone is set to authorize subpoenas for 15 people in the inquiry on the prosecutor dismissals.

"Oversight is just as important, if not more important, than legislation," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The new investigations illustrate just how many questions went unanswered in the six years when Democrats "couldn't hold hearings, we couldn't compel information ... all we could do was ask for it," he said.

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And that was by the election results from November 2006. Oversight and follow through is a necessary component of governance, just as much as enactment of laws. For six years, the Republicans let oversight languish, and there's a lot of garbage that built up over that time.

As much as we'd like to see that new broom sweep the place clean as soon as possible, it's necessary to get the staff and the offices in place to do the job right. You can tell how effective it's being by the amount of Republican belly-aching going on. The more griping from them, the more better.

The Dems have a lot of catching up to do, but we will enjoy the squealing from the GOP every step of the way.