solved Pick a single House Congressional legislative committee—but not Rules, Budget,
Pick a single House Congressional legislative committee—but not Rules, Budget, Oversight, Appropriations or any of the Select or Joint Committees—and then consider how that committee focuses on oversight for one broad issue of your choice. An “issue†will likely be something broad like “space travel,†“regulating Silicon Valley,†“creating equal opportunities,†“making the tax code work for small business,†so broad topics that Congress may turn to frequently. Â
The list of committees is here:
https://www.house.gov/committees
Read through the overviews of 3 hearings held within the last decade that overlap with your issue—hearings will be listed on the committee website—and then write a short essay that along the way addresses the following issues. The hearing website will likely include a list of witnesses, a PDF announcement of the meeting and its main issue, and perhaps links to statements by witnesses. Â
Make your essay sound like a journalistic blog post: You want your readers to know about the issue and you want your readers to know if Congress is taking an effective step toward addressing the issue. [Perhaps you’ll think the issue is one that Congress shouldn’t address, perhaps you disagree with the policy goals, but that’s not central to the essay—this particular assignment is about whether congressional oversight achieves Congress’s goals.] Â
So your essay will survey
1. Overall facts +
2. Some tedious detail that is important but rarely makes it into a newspaper +
3. Your analysis of the situation.Â
Key questions to address along the way, but please don’t write in a bullet-point or numbered format: Â
What is the issue at hand? Also, what is the committee or subcommittee, what is the agency? Are there multiple agencies involved? Â
Do these hearings sound like fire alarm or like police patrol oversight? No need to do deep digging—just explain why it sounds like one or the other. Â
Does the agency itself get a chance to present its case, or is this hearing more like a Festivus-style “Airing of Grievances†where Congress complains and the agency has to just listen?Â
What might a future Congressional response to this issue look like? Or is this hearing mostly a matter of reminding the agency that they should keep doing a good job, and so no Congressional response is likely being suggested, required, or even hinted at?Â
Is this hearing more likely an example of Congress acting as a legislative assembly, a representative assembly, or something else? Â