Criticisms of the Literature on Congressional Oversight
The major critique of the literature on congressional oversight is the lack of empirical evidence to support theories. It is not for lack of trying that this is the case but that “…empirically assessing the relationship is exceptionally difficult (Clinton, Lewis and Selin 2014).”
Although much of the evidence is observational and evidenced through history there should be a way to quantify the results and theories that are “proven” here. Most of the studies that look at congressional oversight use observational data and reviews of the literature in order to create relationships between congressional oversight and the dependent variable that they are studying. There are a few that create …show more content…
Robert McGrath in his work does use empirical analysis but it is much newer research, which could be a contributing factor to the lack of empirics. There is an overwhelming bias to the literature focused on congressional oversight. With the expanding executive branch and the belief of basic democracy that there has to be checks and balances in order for the system to work that congressional oversight is a necessary power. McGrath does not believe that it is clear that the idea of oversight over noncompliant agencies should always be a necessary tool. He creates a model using committee hearings data from both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate from 1947 to 2006. He finds that oversight is often used as a tool of expressing policy preferences and not necessarily as a tool for making …show more content…
The Majority of the scholarly work on congressional oversight has been done before 2000 and the advent of the 24 hour news cycle. Although Lazarus does mention how the media influenced the intense oversight of the EPA specifically by Senator Edmund Muskie in hearings (1991). Looking into the impact of media, and television when an issue can be framed and perception is easily manipulated and changed should always be included. This would just be another addition to the study of congressional oversight that is deterministic in nature but it is still an important aspect as media plays such a huge role in politics and public opinion in this
The major critique of the literature on congressional oversight is the lack of empirical evidence to support theories. It is not for lack of trying that this is the case but that “…empirically assessing the relationship is exceptionally difficult (Clinton, Lewis and Selin 2014).”
Although much of the evidence is observational and evidenced through history there should be a way to quantify the results and theories that are “proven” here. Most of the studies that look at congressional oversight use observational data and reviews of the literature in order to create relationships between congressional oversight and the dependent variable that they are studying. There are a few that create …show more content…
Robert McGrath in his work does use empirical analysis but it is much newer research, which could be a contributing factor to the lack of empirics. There is an overwhelming bias to the literature focused on congressional oversight. With the expanding executive branch and the belief of basic democracy that there has to be checks and balances in order for the system to work that congressional oversight is a necessary power. McGrath does not believe that it is clear that the idea of oversight over noncompliant agencies should always be a necessary tool. He creates a model using committee hearings data from both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate from 1947 to 2006. He finds that oversight is often used as a tool of expressing policy preferences and not necessarily as a tool for making …show more content…
The Majority of the scholarly work on congressional oversight has been done before 2000 and the advent of the 24 hour news cycle. Although Lazarus does mention how the media influenced the intense oversight of the EPA specifically by Senator Edmund Muskie in hearings (1991). Looking into the impact of media, and television when an issue can be framed and perception is easily manipulated and changed should always be included. This would just be another addition to the study of congressional oversight that is deterministic in nature but it is still an important aspect as media plays such a huge role in politics and public opinion in this