The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the House. Its chair is one of only three in the House with the authority to issue subpoenas without a committee vote or consultation with the ranking member.[1] However, in recent history, it has become practice to refrain from unilateral subpoenas.[2]
Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) served as acting chair of the committee following the death of Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) on October 17, 2019;[3][4][5] she was elected chair a month later.[6][7] Representative Jim Jordan served as ranking member from January 3, 2019, until March 12, 2020. On March 31, 2020, Jordan switched to become the ranking member of the Judiciary committee instead. Representative Mark Meadows served as ranking member from March 13, 2020, until March 30, 2020, when he resigned his congressional seat to become White House Chief of Staff.[5][8] Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky) was selected to succeed Meadows on June 29, 2020. Comer became Chair when Republicans regained control of the House majority,[9] with Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) being elected as Ranking Member.[10]Politico reported in late January that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) would be appointed as the Vice Ranking Member.[11]
History
The panel now known as the Committee on Oversight and Accountability was originally the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, created in 1927 to consolidate 11 separate Committees on Expenditures that had previously overseen the spending of various departments of the federal government.[12][13]
The Committee on Expenditures became the Committee on Government Operations in 1952.[12] The new name was intended to reflect the committee's broad mission: to oversee "the operations of Government activities at all levels with a view to determining their economy and efficiency".[13]
After Republicans gained control of the House in the 1994 elections, the committee was reorganized to include seven subcommittees instead of 14. This reorganization consolidated the jurisdiction previously covered by three full committees and resulted in a 50 percent cut in staff.[14] In 2007, a reorganization under a new Democratic majority combined the duties of the seven subcommittees into five.[15]
In the 106th Congress, the panel was renamed the Committee on Government Reform. While retaining the agenda of the former Committee on Government Operations, the new committee also took on the responsibilities of the former House Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service and the Committee on the District of Columbia. On January 4, 2007, the 110th Congress renamed it the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The name was changed again by the 116th Congress to the Committee on Oversight and Reform. For the 118th Congress, Republicans changed the name to "Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which is the current iteration. Since 2007, it has simply been called the "Oversight Committee" for short.
Subpoena usage
In 1997, the Republican majority on the committee changed its rules to allow the chairman, Dan Burton (R-Indiana), to issue subpoenas without the consent of the committee's ranking Democrat.[16] From 1997 to 2002, Burton used this authority to issue 1,052 unilateral subpoenas, many of them related to alleged misconduct by President Bill Clinton, at a cost of more than $35 million.[17]
By contrast, from 2003 to 2005, under the chairmanship of Tom Davis (R-Virginia), the committee issued only three subpoenas to the Bush administration.[17]
After Republicans retook the House in the 2010 elections, the new chairman, Darrell Issa (R-California), escalated the use of subpoenas again, issuing more than 100 in four years during the Obama administration.[18] That was more than the combined total issued by the previous three chairmen—Davis, Henry Waxman (D-California), and Edolphus Towns (D-New York)—from 2003 to 2010.[19]
However, under Davis's chairmanship from 2003 to 2007, the committee launched two controversial investigations. One of those investigations—triggered by the publication of Jose Canseco's memoir, Juiced—concerned the use of anabolic steroids by Major League Baseball players.[citation needed]
An inquiry was also made into the case of Terry Schiavo. In that investigation, which concerned the removal of a feeding tube from a woman in a persistent vegetative state, the committee issued a subpoena requiring Schiavo to "appear" so that members could "examine nutrition and hydration which incapacitated patients receive as part of their care".[21] The apparent objective of this, beyond providing information to committee members, was to delay the pending withdrawal of life support from Schiavo, whose wishes were in dispute, while Congress considered legislation specifically targeted at her case. Members of the Democratic minority opposed the action. Chairman Davis said it was "a legitimate legislative inquiry".[22]
On July 8, 2009, committee Republicans released an investigative staff report discussing the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The report alleged that the government had caused the collapse by meddling in the United States' housing and lending market in the name of "affordable housing".[24]
In February 2012, the committee held a hearing on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mandate that would "require all employers to cover birth control free of cost to women". Specifically, Republicans on the committee alleged that the Department of Health and Human Services's rules governing exemptions for religious institutions violated the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.[25] The chairman, Darrell Issa, said the hearing was "meant to be more broadly about religious freedom and not specifically about the contraception mandate in the Health Reform law".[26]
After Aaron Swartz committed suicide on January 11, 2013, the committee investigated the Justice Department's actions in prosecuting Swartz on hacking charges.[27] On January 28, Issa and ranking member Elijah Cummings published a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, questioning whether prosecutors had intentionally added felony counts to increase the amount of prison time Swartz faced.[28]
On July 10, 2019, a hearing was held by the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties entitled "Kids in Cages: Inhumane Treatment at the Border" on the "inhumane treatment of children and families" inside child detention centers on the southern US border. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) chaired the session which included testimony from Yazmin Juarez, the mother of Mariee who died at the age of nineteen months while detained in a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Dilley, Texas.[29] In his opening statement Raskin said that "hundreds of thousands of people" have responded to the "harsh policies" by deciding to "migrate now before things get even worse".[30]
Jurisdiction
According to House rules, the committee has jurisdiction over the following areas:[31]
Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement.
Municipal affairs of the District of Columbia in general (other than appropriations).
Federal paperwork reduction.
Government management and accounting measures generally.
Holidays and celebrations.
Overall economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities, including Federal procurement.
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