Oversight In 2007

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies.Tell him about your favorite hearing topic: chuck@ips-dc.org

The Republican slime machine still has several weeks of attack advertising and dirty tricks to try and rescue their imperiled Congressional majorities. And the Democrats still have an opportunity to lose elections by not effectively talking about the war, sane energy policy or economic insecurity.
 
Without letting our guard down for a second, it is sweet to contemplate the possibilities of a Democratic majority in the House.
 
In a Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, progressive legislation would still likely be blocked by GOP filibusters or a presidential veto. The best short-term opportunities lay with the control of House committees and their power to provide oversight, attract great media attention for missing ideas and plow ground for more far-reaching legislation.
 
As James Ridgeway writes in this month’s Mother Jones, congressional hearings have played an historical role in shaping political ideas and providing oversight of imperial executive branches. “But in the past six years, congressional investigations of such bold, searching nature have disappeared.” Ridgeway suggests topics for nine bold investigations, making ample use of committee subpoena power, including “Who blew 9/11?” and “Who’s making money off your retirement?”
 
William Greider writes in this week’s The Nation that historic shifts in Congressional control have “re-energized the opposition party and jump-started momentum that led to major reform eras—the presidencies of Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson.”
 
Ten Debate-Changing Congressional Hearings for 2007
 
What follows are 10 proposed congressional hearings for the new Democratic House that could address the urgent but overlooked issues of war, climate change and economic inequality. These hearings could spotlight failures of government oversight, suggest bold and positive things government could do and unify progressives with other disaffected political constituencies.
 
While House committees no longer have an automatic seniority system, many of the 62-member Congressional Progressive Caucus are in line to chair key committees and subcommittees. This makes such hearings possibly only a few months away.
 
1. Hearings on War Profiteering
House Government Reform Committee
Democratic Chair: Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Congress should establish something like the Truman Commission during World War II. The “Waxman Commission” could oversee the contracting of the most privatized war in U.S. history. The commission could investigate price-gouging and profiteering in the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Government Reform can also hold hearings on waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money with Hurricane Katrina, FEMA and homeland security.
 
2. Hearings on Executive Branch Misconduct
House Judiciary Committee
Democratic Chair: Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
Are there any possible breaches of constitutional authority by the president, vice president or other high level members of the Bush administration? Hmmm. Maybe we should take a look. As James Ridgeway observes, “whether any of Cheney’s actions constitutive 'high crimes and misdemeanors' is for Congress, and the nation, to debate.”
 
3. Hearing on Oil Industry Influence
Energy and Commerce Committee
Democratic Chair: Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., with second ranking Henry Rep. Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
The U.S. oil industry badly needs adult supervision. It is time to investigate how Big Oil has blocked our country from moving toward energy independence and reducing carbon emissions. Let’s have a public debate about proposals such as a windfall profits tax on un-reinvested oil industry profits that could fund energy conservation projects and reduce global warming.
 
4. Hearing on Poverty and the Plight of Low Wage Workers
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Democratic Chair: Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
With the federal minimum wage stalled out at $5.15 an hour, it is time to publicize the plight of low-wage workers, especially in states that have refused to raise their state minimum wages. The next federal minimum wage hike shouldn’t include billions in business tax breaks.
 
5. Hearings on Excessive CEO Compensation
Committee on Financial Services
Democratic Chair: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Recent transparency reforms instituted by the Securities and Exchange Commission won’t succeed in stopping runaway CEO pay, now 411 times the average U.S. worker. Congress needs to shift the power balance between imperial corporate management and other stakeholders. Now is an opportunity to discuss legislation that would cap the deductibility of excessive CEO pay and give shareholders the right to approve CEO compensation and retirement packages.
 
6. Hearing on Taxpayer Subsidies for Big Oil and Big Coal
House Ways and Means Committee
Democratic Chair: Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
Why is it that the oil and coal industry are still receiving billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies? Why can’t these payouts be eliminated tomorrow and rechanneled into global warming reduction efforts?
 
7. Hearing on Solutions to Growing Wealth Inequality
Joint Committee on Taxation
Democratic members: Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.
We need a national discussion on the growing disparity of wealth and assets and possible solutions. It’s time to float bold ideas such as a "stakeholder" asset account for all children—capitalized by revenue from the estate tax and fees for dumping carbon into the atmosphere. [See http://www.skyowners.org/.]
 
8. Hearings on Anti-Trust Enforcement
House Judiciary Committee
Democratic Chair: Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
Under the Bush Administration, U.S. anti-trust enforcement has withered to nothing. As the Bush Justice Department gives a green light to the merger of telephone giants AT&T and Bell South, its time to revisit protections for consumers and fair competition.
 
9. Hearings on Expanding Health Care Coverage
House Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health
Democratic Chair: Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.
Dramatic hearings could draw attention to the plight of the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance in the world’s richest nation. Chairman Stark is a big backer of expanding Medicare coverage to include those without insurance.
 
10. Hearing on the Plight of Iraq Veterans
Committee on Veterans Affairs
Democratic Chair: Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., with two other ranking Progressive Caucus members, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Rep. Corinne Brown, D-Fla.
In its zeal to fight a war and cut taxes for the rich, the Bush administration has not served existing veterans well—nor realistically planned for the needs of the next generation of Iraq Veterans. Public hearings could draw attention to the issues facing returning Iraq vets.