Selective Restraint

As my clever editor Tom Shoop said, the House giveth, and the House taketh away. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent letters to committee chairs yesterday, asking them to schedule oversight hearings examining the budgets of federal agencies under their jurisdiction.

“As our nation continues to confront severe budget deficits as a result of unsound economic policy and lax regulation over the last eight years, it is essential that, as we advance our priorities, House Committees also conduct rigorous oversight of all aspects of federal spending and government operations to help achieve deficit reduction and long-term fiscal responsibility,” Pelosi wrote.

Congressional oversight of agency spending seems like the most obvious of oversight roles. But for Pelosi to say this oversight is necessary to combat the “unsound economic policy and lax regulation over the last eight years” seems a little silly, given the $787 billion elephant in the room.

The push for more oversight hearings coincides with a House Rules change proposed by Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., last month which would require committees to hold at least three hearings per year on waste, fraud and abuse in the federal agencies that fall within their purview. Is Tanner the new Waxman?