Congress gets back to real work

As I sit here, recovering from a weekend of “reverie with comrades” (aka drinking and telling lies about past glories with fellow members of the reserve…more to come) I was going through my Sunday ritual including my headline skimming of New York Pravda, err Puke, err Times. I have to say this did catch my eyes

Come January the Republicans will have the chance to hold oversight hearing into the way things have been run for the last four and especially the last two years. Now if we had a functioning press corps much of this would not be needed. But seeing most Journolists comprise a press corpse, it fall on real reformers to handle this mission. Are the freshman members up to the task? That remains to be scene. But this article has a few good points and what they are planning to look into and I can add a couple myself.

Where Will the G.O.P. Go Digging?


By BRIAN FRIEL


WITH the Republican takeover of the House, Representative Darrell Issa of California will become the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Capitol Hill’s top watchdog panel. As the lead Republican on the panel the last two years, Mr. Issa, a hard-charging, quick-witted former car-alarm company owner, has been the Obama administration’s most aggressive antagonist on spending under the $787 billion economic stimulus package. Starting in January, armed with the power to call hearings and issue subpoenas, he will play lead conductor to the new majority’s other committee chairmen in investigating what he says is a “long list” of oversight targets.…


INVESTIGATIONS WE CAN EXPECT


White House job offers. The question is whether the administration offered plum positions to get two Senate primary challengers — Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania and Andrew Romanoff in Colorado — to drop their bids against Democratic incumbents.…


Friends of Angelo.” Several prominent Democrats, including two senators, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut…, were found to have received sweetheart mortgage rates from Countrywide Financial and its former chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.


Acorn. The liberal nonprofit group dissolved last year in the glare of conservative scrutiny, but some Republicans want an investigation into Acorn’s federal financing for its housing programs, which amounted to at least $53 million since 1994.


New Black Panthers. Last year the Justice Department convened and then dropped an investigation into whether members of the New Black Panther Party intimidated voters at a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008.


Climate science. Conservatives who question the consensus that climate change is manmade want to use various committees’ oversight powers to challenge its scientific underpinnings, many of which were reached by federally financed researchers. Mr. Issa has focused on the so-called Climategate scandal involving alleged manipulation of data by British scientists: …


BP oil-spill response. Republicans may want to emphasize the White House’s missteps in dealing with the Gulf oil spill in April. In July, Mr. Issa said that the administration’s “preoccupation with public relations” might have hindered local officials’ efforts to deal with the disaster.


Economic stimulus. Representative Issa created a Web site where people can post pictures of road signs touting projects financed by the $787 billion economic stimulus package; he says the signs are little more than expensive propaganda, costing taxpayers $192 million. Mr. Issa will no doubt find additional creative ways to raise doubts about the administration’s response to the Great Recession, which he says has wasted money on swimming pools, zoos and golf courses.

No, that's not wasted money...that is "shovel ready jobs".

White House Political Affairs Office. Mr. Issa has pushed for information about a special counsel investigation into whether the Office of Political Affairs in the Bush and Obama White Houses violated a ban on the use of federal resources for politicking. In particular, he questions whether the Obama administration has sent federal officials on thinly disguised campaign trips to help elect politicians


Czars. Mr. Issa wants to give special scrutiny to unconfirmed presidential advisers including Elizabeth Warren, who is setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Carol Browner, who oversees environmental policy. Such czars are a sign of the “arrogance of government,”


INVESTIGATIONS WE COULD REALLY USE


Federal contracts. Agencies paid private contractors at least $539 billion in fiscal 2009, much of it with little or no competition or performance evaluation. An additional $660 billion-plus in grants to states, local governments and nonprofits has undergone no systemic Congressional review.


I would think this is a primary function of the Congress…

The Civil Service. As with contractors, Congress has not systemically reviewed the performance and efficiency of the government’s 1.8 million-member work force.

First thing…end government unions.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At $136 billion so far, the federal takeover of the quasi-private housing corporations is the most expensive component of the government’s response to the economic crisis.


Defense spending. Congress has been loath to dig too deeply into waste in the Pentagon budget, in part because every state and Congressional district benefits from the spending. …


Food safety. A series of recalls… has highlighted the strains on the Food and Drug Administration. Congress should investigate whether it needs to be reformed or its duties taken up by other agencies.

If FDA cannot do this function and it has to be handed over to another agency, I think the FDA needs to be deleted…

Transparency. The government keeps too much information secret, operating a costly system of classification. Much of the information it does make public is impossible for most citizens to comprehend. Republicans could push agencies to declassify more information more quickly and draft legislation to compel the bureaucracy to release data in more usable formats.

As a retired 23 year intelligence officer all I can say is “Allah Be Praised!” However, I won’t hold my breath.

Veterans health. Since the exposure of terrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007, Congress has dumped billions into the veterans health system. But there has been little follow-up to examine the quality of care and the cost-effectiveness of efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.


Loan guarantees. Congress has backed more than $100 billion in loans in energy-related private projects. Because the guarantees don’t cost much up front, they tend to get little scrutiny.

Real easy…stop the loan guarantees. If solar/wind or other “alternative energies” can be marketable they can get financing from other sources…they don’t need taxpayer money.

Agency performance. Do taxpayers get what they pay for? …

Short answer, no.

Congress itself. Committees in general do little sustained oversight, instead chasing headlines. And they operate with significant overlap — more than 100 committees and subcommittees oversee the Homeland Security Department, for example. The committees offer few channels for public input and participation. As one expert says, “I’d like to see Congress take a hard look at how it does oversight before it does any more of it.”

Personally I would rather Congress spend more time repealing parts of the federal code (first among them Obamacare but that’s a different point for a different post). Now here are some things I would like to see the subject of Congressional review:

1. Ms Pelosi, you really enjoyed flying around in that taxpayer provided 747 for four years. We hear your family did too…even if you were not on the bird. We need to know if you were not flying on those flights and if so…I don’t think the taxpayers should pay the 12000 dollars a flight hour this cost.

2. White House energy adviser Carol Browner: When the White House was appealing a federal court order overturning the offshore oil drilling ban, you and your “czardome” sent a report saying seven leading scientists were supporting this…when they were not. In other words you lied to a federal judge. Should this be presented to the court and/or justice department for further action…and should you get your own lawyer?

Any other things that should be looked into?