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Most Democratic-led Committees Get Failing Grades on Oversight, but Some Committees Excel.

Media Contacts:

Dan Diller                   dillerdan@yahoo.com; (703) 509-1493
Jay Branegan               jay@thelugarcenter.org; (202) 329-6837

WASHINGTON, DC — A new report card on the oversight performance of congressional committees for 2021 shows most Democratic chairs falling far behind the usual pace of oversight for their committees, even as some of their fellow Democratic chairs earned top grades.  Among the 34 House and Senate committees graded on their oversight, eight committees received “A” grades, while 19 committees received “F”s.

The grades reflect the first six months of hearing activity in the 117th Congress as calculated by the Lugar Center’s Congressional Oversight Hearing Index (COHI), which was launched in May 2020. The COHI is the first-ever statistical database that measures how committees in both Houses of Congress are performing their vital oversight function.

The relatively poor performance of current Democratic committee chairs is a significant shift from the 116th Congress (2019-20), when Democratic-controlled House committees far outpaced Republican-controlled Senate committees in oversight. In that Congress, nine Democratic-chaired House committees received A’s compared with just one Republican-chaired Senate committee.

“In the last Congress, House Democrats did an admirable job of conducting oversight over the government and the Trump administration, while Senate Republicans did a notably poor one,” said Lugar Center Policy Director Dan Diller. “In the first six months of this Congress, however, 19 Democratic committee chairs are way behind the usual pace of hearing oversight.  Their failure is even more notable given that eight of their colleagues earned our top grade.”

 Three House committee chairs who earned “A” grades in the 116th Congress (2019-2020) received A’s again for the first half of 2021: Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chair of the Financial Services Committee; and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), chair of the Natural Resources committee.  Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the new chair of the Appropriations committee also received an A, as did Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who boosted his Armed Services Committee grade from a C- in the 116th Congress to an A so far in 2021.

In the Senate, three committees, all with new Democratic chairs, received A’s: Appropriations, led by Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Armed Services, led by Jack Reed (D-RI); and Finance, led by Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The COHI is based on the principle that Congressional oversight should be a constant feature of government, rather than just a political tool to challenge a President of the other party.  Robust congressional oversight improves the transparency and effectiveness of our government and functions as a check on presidential overreach. The COHI provides the public and media with a non-partisan, objective means of evaluating whether each committee is living up to the standard for oversight set during the last twelve years.

“Eight different Democratic Chairs proved that having an Administration run by their own party is not a barrier to robust oversight,” said COHI Project Director Jamie Spitz. “The Federal government is a huge enterprise with no shortage of topics that would benefit from public examination by Congress. The main determinant of a committee’s oversight performance is the energy and priority given to oversight by committee and subcommittee chairs.”

Of the 17 House Committees graded, five received A’s, two received C’s, and ten received F’s. In the Senate, a similar trend emerged: three received A’s, one received a B, two received Cs, two received D’s, and nine received F’s.

The COHI catalogs all congressional hearings held during the last thirteen years (more than 20,000 hearings) in its searchable database.  Each committee’s grade is based on the number and type of open hearings it held during the 117th Congress relative to the activity of that same committee in prior Congresses. The grading system assigns points to all hearings, but gives much more weight to those of an investigative nature and those that delve into the administration’s execution of policy and legislation.  Although hearings are not the only form of oversight, most cases of significant oversight involve or are accompanied by hearings. A thorough examination of the hearing record captures a large percentage of Congress’s most notable oversight efforts.

The grades issued today cover the first six months of the 117th Congress.  After this initial period, grades are updated continually until the Congress ends. So current grades can rise or fall each month as committees increase or decrease the pace of their oversight activity.  Those interested in committee oversight performance can check the Lugar Center website frequently for updates.  In addition to committee grades, the COHI hearing database is free, searchable, and includes virtually all hearings since 2009.

Special consideration has been given to the effects of the COVID-19 virus on the pace of hearing activity.  All hearings — whether in-person or virtual — are included in the data base and count toward scores. In 2020, an adjustment to the statistical database was made so that congressional committees were not unduly penalized for the months when Congress shut down or operated at lower capacity.  A minimal adjustment has been made for 2021, in recognition of lingering COVID affects on congressional operations at the beginning of this year.

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We thank Denison University students Hannah Gilson, Jackie Figueroa, and Rachel Duvall for their indispensable work on the Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.

The non-profit Lugar Center is a non-partisan platform for informed debate and analysis of global issues, including nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global food security, foreign assistance effectiveness and global development, energy security, and enhancing bipartisan governance. In addition to publishing the Congressional Oversight Hearing Index, the Lugar Center co-publishes the Bipartisan Index, which measures the frequency with which members of Congress sponsor and co-sponsor legislation with members of the opposite party.   http://www.thelugarcenter.org     

For the full report card on the COHI homepage, click here.
For details on Methodology: here
FAQs: here