So What's an Oversight Hearing? And Why Should I care?

The easiest way to define "Oversight Hearing" is to say that it is a meeting called by a House Congressional Committee to review or investigate a problem or program. Often, a hearing is called to evaluate a law's implementation after citizens have complained to their locally elected officials.

Congress writes the laws. The President signs them into law and then the Executive Branch of Government (which the President is in charge of) implements each piece of legislation. Afterwards, the Congress is charged by the United States Constitution to make sure that the laws ...written and passed by Congress and signed and administered by the President ... are implemented as intended.

My Rural America's Blog is here in part because we know these are difficult issues for local "low resource" news media to keep track of, so if you're a new reader .... you can expect us to draw your attention to "Oversight" fairly often since at My Rural America we believe that citizens who take the time to educate themselves become the most responsible voters.

For example, in 2007 we highlighted problems at the Veterans' Administration (VA) as it failed to take care of veterans "coming home" issues during this time of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the more recent hearings covered the VA's failure to deal with the rising rate of suicides from soldiers returning from the wars. The record can be found at the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Officially, the "Oversight" system is a "check and balance" created by our U.S. Constitution to make sure that all three branches of government watch over each other to make sure that our government works properly and that our government remembers it is there to serve us -- its citizens and voters.

A quick way to learn more about the "jargon" that Congress and the President use when they talk about legislation is to click here: Glossary of Terms. It's a companion piece published by the New York Times to assist its readers watch our government more closely.