America suffers from a lack of congressional oversight. Some in Congress inherited the resultant festering mess, others allowed it to happen. Be that as it may, it is time to right the good ship America before it capsizes.
It is time for Congress to forthrightly and aggressively exercise its constitutional power of oversight. It is time for Congress to competently fulfill its constitutional obligation of oversight. It is time for you members of Congress to do your jobs. You have all the tools. Please use them.
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) have blatantly repudiated congressional oversight power by refusing to produce witnesses and records. And, when witness do appear before Congress, they refuse to answer questions because the matter is being investigated by the DOJ Inspector General; or “I know the answer to the question but I can’t tell you,” or “I don’t think it would be appropriate to answer that question in this setting,” or words to those effects.
Here is another example of lack of oversight. This morning, Veteran’s Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal was interviewed on Fox News by your former colleague former Representative Jason Chaffetz. Mr. Missal made some astonishing statements: “We don’t report to anybody. We don’t report to the head of the agency. We don’t report to Congress. … So, this allows us to do our jobs the way we think the best way possible. It allows us to call it the way we see it.”
Do you have any issues with Mr. Missal’s mindset? Do you see any parallels with the DOJ and the FBI? Do you think, perhaps, that the DOJ, FBI, Mr. Missal, and every government department, section, and employee should understand that the Constitution does not permit the establishment of independent, autonomous entities or persons in our government? In our government, everyone is accountable without exception. I respectfully request that you get to work post haste to dispel such mindsets, they are anathema to our constitutional republican form of government.
I also assert that lack of congressional oversight has facilitated state and local governments that flaunt our immigration laws, e.g., so-called “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens; “legalized” marijuana use throughout our nation, and much, much more. Please use your powers to stem creeping anarchy.
In my opinion, likely shared by many others, Congress has been overly patient in dealing with recalcitrant persons and entities who are obstructing congressional oversight. Bring them to heel. Doing so will serve the best interests of the people.
