Here's my #longread feature for our latest issue: Have you wondered why Congressional hearings are, I don't know, bad? I dove into the history of oversight, the forces hobbling it today, and how to make it great again.
prospect.org/politics/inves…
prospect.org/politics/inves…
A combination of understaffing, stretched responsibilities, lack of coordination, & pervasive inattention to the importance of oversight has crippled a core legislative function. And few members have a coherent philosophy about the purpose of oversight.
prospect.org/politics/inves…
prospect.org/politics/inves…
Prospect founder @rkuttnerwrites was the chief investigator of the Senate Banking Committee in the 1970s. His hearings led to the Community Reinvestment Act & the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Here's Bob picketing the NRA after the MLK/RFK assassinations. prospect.org/politics/inves… 
Bob was part of a great tradition of oversight. Just one Senate small-business subcommittee helmed by Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) held 135 days of hearings on the FDA & the pharmaceutical industry over the course of a decade. prospect.org/politics/inves…
Other great oversight includes Gerald Nye & Harry Truman's war profiteering hearings in WWI/WWII, and Carl Levin's financial crisis work. Levin's staff would take 3 months to investigate, 3 months to interview witnesses, & 3 months to write a report.
prospect.org/politics/inves…
prospect.org/politics/inves…
Today those examples are rare. Why? Gingrich's hobbling of committee independence (which Democrats never restored), shrinking the work week & committee budgets, staff revolving door all factors. But chiefly, Congress has become too incurious. prospect.org/politics/inves…
All this said, there are members doing good oversight. I talked to them: @CongressmanRaja, @RepKatiePorter, @SenWarren, @RepRaskin (who held a boot camp for members on how to ask hearing questions) prospect.org/politics/inves…
The House Antitrust Subcommittee investigation of digital platforms was an oversight throwback: a long time horizon, original research, bipartisan cooperation, knowledgeable members coordinating questioning. It led to a report that's a basis for governing. prospect.org/politics/inves…
“Good hearings are really just journalism with subpoena power... It’s a show, it’s a performance where you find information and confront people. It’s not rocket science but it does take work.” FIN
prospect.org/politics/inves…
prospect.org/politics/inves…
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