Overlooking Presidential Faults: The Lack of Oversight Use by Congress

Chapter 11 of The Struggle for Democracy covers the role of the legislative branch. Though most of this section covers basic information about Congress that most would find rather dry, the final section of 11.5 discusses one of Congress’ most complex, newsworthy, and valuable roles, in that of oversight over the Executive Branch.

While most average Americans think of the United States President as an untouchable figure, we have seen numerous probes into the presidency and the executive branch, as well as eight impeachment attempts, with two being successful (Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton).

While the glitz, drama, and newsworthiness of these impeachments are fascinating and enthralling, what is most important about this chapter to note is the dramatic drop in probes, oversight, and committee hearings in recent years. Greenburg states, “the number of committee hearings has declined dramatically since 1980, with only slightly more than half the number of hearings in 2011 as there were then,” (353). This lack of probing and oversight is due to the fact that congresses of the same party as the president do not want to make said president “look bad.”

Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann in their article “When Congress Checks Out” discuss the increasing lack of oversight on current administrations, especially in relation to the second Bush administration. For example, the article states, “the Republican Congress took 140 hours of testimony on whether President Clinton had used his Christmas mailing list to find potential campaign donors; in 2004-5, House Republicans took 12 hours of testimony on Abu Ghraib,” (Ornstein). This not only shows the dramatic drop off of investigation into the White House, especially in relation to important issues but also shows the dramatic partisan divide in relation to oversight. It is clear that the executive branch, in general, is more likely to fall under legislative oversight if there is a party divide.

Oversight is one of the most visible checks and balances that the legislative branch has over the executive. Not making use of this important check is clearly a problem for democracy as a whole, and exposes the issues surrounding the two-party system in the United States. Congress must maintain its role in balancing the power of the President, and with the White House ordering the shutdown of oversight attempts in the current administration, this power is becoming more and more important. Checks and balances are one of the hallmarks of American democracy, and if party divides get in the way of this hallmark, we might need to reevaluate our system.

3 Responses to "Overlooking Presidential Faults: The Lack of Oversight Use by Congress"

Matthew Lidz says:

November 15, 2017 at 8:59 pm

I partially agree with you on how partisanship interferes with oversight of the executive branch. The problems you are describing mainly affect the House and are less prominent in the Senate. In Russia investigation, the dysfunction and partisanship is mainly confined to the House. This is mainly due to the increasing partisan polarization and the need for Representatives to stay in the delegate model of representation in order to get reelected. When partisan loyalty is primarily viewed through sufficient support or lack thereof for the president, any investigation that involves the White House will end up becoming a partisan fight.

In contrast, the Senate’s six year terms allow for representatives to act in the trustee model of representation, allowing room for compromise. The structure and rules of the Senate are installed to ensure that the ideal solution is worked out between the parties through compromise. While partisanship is present in the Senate through the filibuster, it hasn’t affected the work of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s work on Russia to the extent it has in the House. Both the chairman and ranking member of the committee have given joint press conferences and the probe has not been the center of controversy due to the actions of the committee chair. While Congress as a whole has failed in recent years in oversight of the executive branch without partisanship, the Senate deserves some credit for generally avoiding the partisanship that has overtaken the House
Christopher Barry says:

November 18, 2017 at 8:14 pm

You make a very interesting and compelling point regarding the relationship between partisanship and congressional oversight and I completely agree with it.
The more control a party has on Congress, the more it affects how much congressional oversight there is on a president, whether the president be in the party with or without control. In that regards, I feel that it should be stated and emphasized that party control in both the legislative and executive branches dictates how much oversight is done as I do not feel it was explicated stated very well. For example, in the case of Bill Clinton, since he was a Democrat, he generally faced more congressional oversight, because he was competing and dealing with a Republican-controlled Congress. This illustrates a severe sign to how our democracy works. Powers are being abused (or not used at all in the opposite cases) in order to aid or hurt other politicians based on political parties. Congressional oversight on the executive branch is just one specific instance. The importance and hold of political parties has been caused and supported the increased partisan nature of government and Congress. The result is seeming corruption and problems within the system.
The competition, and thus dramatization by the media for its entertainment value (infotainment), has a hold and influence on the American government and psyche as well. You mentioned the “glitz, drama, and newsworthiness of [the] impeachments” and I think it can be said about congressional oversight in general, Congress, and power and significant hold political parties have on the government. Americans are entertained by the drama unfolding in Congress and the government and the media cashes in on it and supports the increased power and influence of political parties. This can not only be seen in the large amount of coverage of this political drama and how it is covered, but it can also be seen in the sheer amount of political dramas and thrillers produced by the media. It is a vicious cycle of feeding and being fed.
Brittney Morris says:

November 20, 2017 at 5:15 am

Margaret you raised some really interesting points. I agree that members of congress are unwilling to make their own party president look bad, which defeats the purpose of checks and balances. The three branches of the government are supposed to monitor the others and stop them when they are doing something wrong. However, recently we have seen that the branches are working together rather than checking the other branches. Individuals are more worries about party allegiance than performing their necessary roles. The lack of oversight is very apparent in the trump administration. In the politico article you posted, it shows blatant abuse of power. Trump trying to bully the Democratic Party and stop them from doing their job is unacceptable. Oversight is an important part of congress and inappropriate actions should not be overlooked because the president says to overlook it or threatens you if you do not. It is clear that our system is not working, however, it is unclear how to fix it. Something needs to be done, to prevent unchecked power by any branch of the government

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