The Vanishing Committee Hearing
Oversight used to happen in rooms where members asked questions for hours. The format has been replaced by something that produces clips instead of records.
The committee hearing was, for most of the twentieth century, the primary instrument of legislative oversight. Members had time, staff had prepared, and the record produced was long enough to be useful to anyone who came later.
The modern version is optimized for a different output. Time is divided into five minute blocks, each member uses the block to make a statement with a question attached, and the witness answers whichever part is convenient. Nothing accumulates, because the next member starts over.
The incentive is straightforward. A sustained line of questioning produces a useful record and no clip. A sharp exchange produces a clip and no record. Only one of those affects a member's standing.
Some committees still do the older kind of work, usually where the subject is technical enough that grandstanding has no audience. That is where oversight has migrated, and it is worth watching precisely because nobody is.
Miriam Halloway writes for The 13th Bell on politics. This piece was edited and fact checked before publication.
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