Carl Levin: Congress is falling short on its oversight duties

Over the past year, the media has dissected congressional actions to investigate Russian interference in U.S. elections, the manipulation of social media and issues involving the credibility of the intelligence community and Department of Justice, among other topics. Congress has not fared well under the media scrutiny. Its oversight efforts have too often been highly partisan, haphazard, even dysfunctional.    

During my 36 years in the U.S. Senate, I regularly participated in, and often led, oversight investigations. On the Senate Armed Services Committee, they included inquiries to stop wasteful defense spending, strengthen protections against counterfeit aircraft parts and improve health care for wounded warriors. On the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, our inquiries helped end unfair credit card practices, strengthen U.S. anti-money laundering safeguards and curb corporate tax dodging.  

These investigations were relentlessly bipartisan. In every inquiry, I and my Republican counterparts – including Sens. Tom Coburn, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, John McCain and John Warner, among others – directed our staffs to go after the facts together and let the chips fall where they may. We directed our staffs to issue joint subpoenas, share documents, conduct joint interviews, draft our reports together and produce joint hearings. The result was bipartisan, fact-based oversight that bridged political divides and produced reforms.

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Our Constitution deliberately divides political power among the three branches of government – the legislative, executive, and judicial – so that none can dominate and each can serve as a check on the others. Our checks-and-balances approach to government is one of the great gifts of U.S. democracy to the rest of the world.  

Congress is a vital participant in the government envisioned by our Constitution. It is supposed to serve as a check on executive and judicial branch mismanagement and misconduct, and can also serve to combat wrongdoing in the private sector. The Supreme Court has held that Congress’ power to investigate “is inherent in the legislative process” and supports broad inquiries into “the administration of existing laws as well as proposed or possibly needed statutes.” Effective investigations enable Congress to make informed decisions when reviewing legislation, exercising the power of the purse, approving nominations, and engaging in other congressional functions.

Today, congressional oversight investigations are as important as ever, but they are also losing public confidence. Unknown to the public is that many members of Congress continue to conduct high-quality, bipartisan investigations. Recent examples include inquiries ending Wells Fargo’s mistreatment of its customers and strengthening our electoral systems against cyber attacks.

But it is also true that the media focus is understandably on congressional oversight investigations in danger of failing due to partisanship. The most dramatic example is the House Intelligence Committee. Recently, rather than bring his committee together, the chairman not only abruptly ended its Russian investigation over the objections of Democrats, but also proposed building a physical wall between the Republican and Democratic staffs, the exact opposite of what needs to happen.

It’s no surprise that the media highlights the antics of the House Intelligence Committee over the quiet, apparently bipartisan work of the Senate Intelligence Committee; conflict is inherently more exciting than cooperation and, in the case of the Russian investigation, the work involves such high stakes. Russian intrusion into our elections is a threat to the most fundamental bedrock premise of our democracy: that the American people, not foreign governments, will choose our leaders. Indeed, foreign financial contributions to our election campaigns are forbidden by law.

It is essential that the erosion of congressional norms favoring bipartisan, fact-based inquiries come to an end. It is time for the public to demand that members of Congress conduct investigations that are bipartisan, even-handed efforts to discover the facts.

This week,  the Wayne Law Review and the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School will present a symposium on Congressional Oversight in the 21st Century. More than a dozen scholars will examine the role that congressional oversight plays in American life; how Congress interacts with the executive and judicial branches as well as the private sector; and how Congress investigates matters of public concern at home and abroad.

The symposium is an effort to move past the headlines and take a serious look at how Congress is meeting its constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight and provide the checks and balances needed to protect the public. It is an attempt to diagnose what’s working, what’s not, and how to revitalize congressional inquiries. It is part of a growing academic recognition of the key role that legislative oversight can play in strengthening government, battling abuses, and producing a healthy and sustainable democracy. In today’s hyper-partisan climate, ensuring that Congress conducts effective, bipartisan, fact-based oversight is indispensable to restoring public confidence in our government.

Carl Levin served as a U.S. senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. He is the distinguished legislator in residence at Wayne State University Law School and chairs the Levin Center at Wayne Law which works to strengthen congressional oversight.