Thread by @didikins4life

#BackToSchool With all the investigations & talk about Congressional Committees, it’s important to review some history & understand the impact CC’s have had in the past? Why is it so much harder to get accountability today? (Hint: Think elephant)
open.lib.umn.edu/americangovern… 1/13

Conducting investigations is one of the most public activities in which congressional committees engage. 2/13 #JusticeMatters #investigation #accountability #TheBigLie #demswork4usa

During the Progressive Era of the 1890s through 1920s, members could gain the attention of muckraking journalists by holding investigative
hearings to expose corruption in business and government. 3/13 #Corruption #accountability #Congress #TheBigLie

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress conducted an investigation of the stock market, targeting Wall Street once again. Newspapers were willing to devote much front-page ink to these hearings, as reports on the hearings increased newspaper readership. 4/13 #Congress

In 1950, Senator Kefauver held hearings investigating organized crime that drew 30 million television viewers at a time when the medium was new to American homes. 5/13
#accountability #Congress #Committees

The Senate convened a special committee to investigate the Watergate burglaries and cover-up in 1973. 6/13 #accountability #January6thCommission #TheBigLie

The burglars had been directed by President Richard Nixon’s reelection committee to break into and wiretap the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building complex. 7/13 #accountability #investigation #TheBigLie

The Watergate hearings became a national television event as 319 hours of the hearings were broadcast and watched by 85 percent of American households. Gavel-to-gavel coverage of the hearings was broadcast on National Public Radio. 8/13 #accountability #Transparency #TheBigLie

The senators who conducted the investigation, esp Chairman Sam Ervin (D-NC) & Senator Howard Baker (R-TN), became household names. The hearings resulted in the conviction of several of Pres. Nixon’s aides for obstruction of justice & ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation. 9/13

In 2002, the House Financial Services Committee held thirteen hearings to uncover how Enron Corporation was able to swindle investors and drive up electricity rates in California while its executives lived the high life. 10/13 #accountability #Congress #Hearings

Prior to the hearings, which made “Enron” a household word, there was little press coverage of Enron’s questionable operating procedures.11/13 #accountability #Transparency #CORRUPTION

Much of the important work in Congress is accomplished through committees. The fate of legislation—which bills will make it to the floor of the House and Senate—is determined in committees. 12/13 #ForThePeopleAct #Senate #House #Congress

Members seek committee assignments considering their desire to influence policy, exert influence & get reelected. Most committee work receives little, if any, media coverage. Investigative committees are the exception when they are covering hearings on high-profile matters. 13/13