In The News

Today, during a hearing on H.R. 5018 - the Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act, Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02) spoke candidly and assertively on the need for all Members of Congress to stand up and defend the constitutional standing of the Legislative Branch and its role in oversight of the Executive Branch. Huizenga cautions that it should not matter which party the President currently residing in the White House affiliates with, the Legislative Branch must preserve and live up to its constitutional duty.

I cannot figure out why so many of my colleagues are willing to hand over their constitutional standing, I would argue their constitutional duty, to fulfill oversight responsibility. So I started 'googling' oversight and a CRS report pops up. This is on Wikipedia so we are not going real deep here, we can go further.

'Congressional oversight refers to oversight by the United States Congress on the Executive Branch, including the numerous U.S. federal agencies. Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. Congress exercises this power largely through its congressional committee system.'

My son Garrett just got done with AP Government. So guess what, I went to the AP Government Flashcards on oversight and they say roughly the same thing.

What I can't figure out is why my colleagues here are willing, day in and day out, to hand the responsibility of oversight over to the Administration regardless of whether there is a "D" or an "R" behind it. What happened to the people that are going to go and fight for their legislative standing, their constitutional standing? I don't understand this.