Is Congress Effective in Exercising Legislative Oversight of the Bureaucracy?

1. Is Congress Effective in Exercising Legislative Oversight of the Bureaucracy? Lucy Edgar, Kendall Smith, Drew Wright, Travis Joyce and Brittney Dermo

2. Congressional Oversight • Congress sets limits on money spent. The Committee on Appropriations is in charge of setting specific expenditures of money by the government. Congress can use the “power of the purse” which means congress can withhold money from any sector of the bureaucracy. Congress must approve the President’s budget.

3. Congressional Oversight • All legislation must be approved by congress. All bills must be introduced and passed by congress. After being introduced, a bill is referred to a committee. The committees review the bill and decide what actions to take. The bill is then read and made amendments to by the congress. Then members debate and vote on the bill. After a bill passes both chambers it is then passed on to the President.

4. Congressional Oversight FailureFinancial Collapse of 2008 Article on the collapse: http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/1149-2008-financial-collapse-the-greatest-calamity-the-world-has-ever-known.html • In 2008, a powerful recession began. Many American citizens lost their jobs. There are many causes of the financial collapse. Causes: • Lack of government sponsorship and regulation of markets • Dishonest lending • Overlending and irresponsible investments

5. Explanation of FailureFinancial Collapse of 2008 • Banks began giving out loans to people that did not have the capability to pay back. All of these loans were sold off in bonds to other investors with the hope that the people would pay the loans off. Then, the interest rates increased and the people were unable to pay back the loans. The investors that paid money to the banks lost their money and the banks crashed as well. The economy was soon to follow in crashing. • Congress is required to regulate and monitor banks of the United States. The financial collapse occurred because Congress lost their regulation. If Congress had done their job then the market would not have crashed.

6. Congressional Oversight FailureGovernment’s response to Hurricane Katrina

7. Explanation of FailureHurricane Katrina • Congress is supposed to be sure that the government provides quick, effective relief in times of national crisis and distress. Congress did not do their job during Hurricane Katrina. Congress could not have prevented Hurricane Katrina, but they could have done a much better job providing relief and assistance.

8. Congressional Oversight FailureSeptember 11, 2001

9. Explanation of FailureSeptember 11, 2001 • The CIA and FBI were not working together and cooperating properly. The two agencies must work together to achieve successful investigations. Congress should have overseen these investigative agencies and fixed the problem of them not cooperating. This could have prevented the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

10. Is Congress Effective in Exercising Legislative Oversight of the Bureaucracy? • No. • Congress’ oversight failures have led to the major crises of our country. Overall, when Congress’ oversight fails, our nation as a whole is put down. If Congress were effective at overseeing the bureaucracy, we would not have had the Financial Collapse of 2008, slow relief of Hurricane Katrina, September 11th attacks, and other things as well.