Last week, in reference to the unofficial hearings John Conyers had called in the House to highlight voting problems on election day, I suggested that this is exactly the kind of thing congressional Dems need to do more of.
Fortunately, Harry Reid seems to agree.
Lacking the power to formally examine alleged corruption in the Bush administration, Senate Democrats plan to create their own investigative team and hold hearings on their findings in the new Congress.
Though the hearings will not be officially sanctioned by the Senate – and will not be aided by Congressional subpoena power – Democrats say they will offer an opportunity to provide oversight of the executive branch, which they claim has been lacking under Republican rule.
“The fact is, with one-party rule – the presidency and the House and Senate – there is no oversight on anything,” said Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (N.D.). “The oversight function … is non-existent.”
Dorgan, who will oversee this new investigative team, said that he expects about seven of his Democratic colleagues to take active roles. It will be housed in the policy committee, which traditionally has been tasked with analyzing the policy details of legislation, among other responsibilities.
This really is an excellent idea. Senate Dems railing on the chamber floor about the outrageous lack of administrative oversight is worthwhile, but easy to ignore. Yes, these hearings will be political theater and no, Dems won’t have subpoena power, but these hearings are indicative of something very important: a real opposition party.
As far as political reporters are concerned, hearings are an integral element to the seriousness of a story. With this in mind, the mainstream press has downplayed scandals that would have been gigantic stories had Congress not given up oversight authority to Karl Rove upon Bush’s inauguration.
Had Dems been in the majority, there would have been hearings, for example, to delve into the ongoing White House criminal investigation (Plame Game), the administration’s obvious lies about the cost of Bush’s Medicare scheme, the missing WMD in Iraq, etc. Instead, the GOP majority looks the other way, Congress takes no active role in oversight, and the media have an excuse to blow off these scandals.
The Democratic Policy Committee’s new approach attacks this problem head on. If the Dems’ primary problem in recent years is one of message development and distribution — and I believe it is — this is exactly the kind of thing lawmakers in DC can do to help turn the tide. It’s the difference between an effective opposition and an ineffective one.
The first hearing is likely to take place in January, Dorgan said, with the focus possibly being on the awarding of contracts to private companies for services related to the Iraq war.
[…]
“Clearly, there are a lot of areas in which the government is broken and we need to expose any malfeasance, corruption and misuse of official resources,” said Susan McCue, Reid’s chief of staff. “Senator Reid looks forward to reforming government with Senator Dorgan in the new year.”
I have to say, I like Reid more and more all of the time.