Will Congress Make Itself Oversee Agencies?

It's a common refrain: Congress doesn't fully and appropriately exercise its powers of oversight over federal agencies. Now, Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., has a solution: Let's pass a law forcing ourselves to do it. He's introduced a bill, H.Res.841, that would require:

• Hearings within 60 days of inspector general reports that identify waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement over $1 million.
• Hearings and testimony from agency officials when the Government Accountability Office identifies an agency as high risk for mismanagement.
• Hearings featuring Cabinet secretaries when auditors issue disclaimers or corrections to an agency’s financial audit.
• At least two hearings a year on the results of performance reviews using the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool.