Keeping tabs on the executive

Abstract

Congress has long exercised its power to oversee the executive branch. Important research has examined empirical patterns in congressional investigations, finding institutional, individual, policy, and partisan incentives motivate legislative inquiry. Yet, scholars largely have overlooked one fundamental question: what is oversight? We use new quantitative and qualitative data to highlight the importance of considering oversight as a series of actions designed to serve both as a symbol and signal in the American separation of powers system. Our exploratory analysis suggests that Congress oversees the executive branch much more frequently and in more ways than previously considered by scholars.

Efficacy of Congressional Oversight

“…First, our study focuses on oversight hearings as Congress's main tool for oversight, following previous work. Congressional scholars have recently worked to consider non-hearing techniques used for oversight (e.g.,Selin and Moore, 2023); our findings on the limited effectiveness of oversight hearings suggests the importance of gaining a full accounting of congressional oversight activities. While we also examine the non-hearing techniques of correspondence between legislators and agencies, appropriation committee reports, and executive actions, we have still been unable to uncover strong evidence of either legislative or executive control over bureaucratic deficiency.…”

“…Congress, its committees, or individual members may use non-hearing techniques to conduct oversight depending on the political context or purpose (Selin and Moore, 2023). The President also uses various actions to mitigate the principal-agent problem within the executive branch.…”

“…To account for the possibility that oversight may happen outside of hearings (i.e., Selin and Moore, 2023), we also consider other techniques through which oversight of the executive branch could be conducted. We rule out a possible secondary channel of oversight, correspondence between individual legislators and agencies.…”