Committees scrutiny of executives Flashcards
Power to call for witnesses and papers UK select committees
> UK Oliver Robbins, a Junior Secretary the Home Office to represent Amber Rudd, has been called in to see the Select Committee over Immigration policy in March 2017, however he failed to do so on the grounds he was “excused” by the Home Affairs Department.
> Pressure can force people to show, for example Mike Ashley, CEO of Sports Direct was eventually pressured into appearing before the Business, Innovations and Skills Committee in 2016 over an investigation into pay and working conditions.
Amending a bill (UK)
Legislative committees:
> The Think tank Reform found that only 8% of seats on public bill committees were given to MPs on relevant select committees in 2015. For example, Sarah Wollaston despite being a GP for several years prior to becoming an MP was not appointed to the Health and Social Care Bill Committee (2012) because she expressed dissenting views on the bill.
> Public Bill Committees will always have a governing party majority and party loyalty is quite a big factor in determining MPs’ behaviour.
> Bills will not get full scrutiny from their own party. For example, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (introduced by Theresa May) at committee stage reviewed 1000 amendments but only passed 5.
> While in the UK 23 of every 25 bills passed in 2016; for example, the Dangerous Dogs Bill was rushed through in a matter of weeks and is considered a poorly constructed piece of legislation.
Amending a bill (US)
> Permanent; this allows for policy expertise to be built up over years. John Kerry for example, was secretary of Foreign Affairs under Obama, but had served as chair of the Foreign Affairs Standing Committee for several years prior to that.
> Tough process: both Obama and Bush Jr’s. Flagship policies of Obamacare and No Child Left Behind Act weren’t able to pass the House without significant amendments made.
> Representatives are more independently minded and partisanship has less influence due to the delegate model and 2 year term limits that exist in the US. For example, Trump’s flagship American Healthcare Act went through the budget committee in 2017 and was voted against by a Republican named Dave Brat, even though Trump himself is a Republican.
> Standing Committees will have a house majority reflected in the committees; in times when the government is not divided the Standing Committees can become very partisan and effectiveness of scrutiny is hindered as a result. For example Congress in 2017 passed a resolution that would allow ISPs to sell users’ internet user history to companies without the users consent; the committee quickly passed this resolution with little amendments made to the bill as both chambers are ruled by Republicans, and President Trump was Republican and so willing to sign the bill.
> Chairmen of the committees can make “markups” or certain aspects of the bill to be discussed, but In the USA Presidents may influence committees with “pork barrel” promises in exchange for these markups. For example, LSE highlighted that as markups relevant to Executive favoured bills have gone up the value of pork barrel projects have increased.
Upper house powers UK
The House of Lords system is so that The Lords Public Bill Committee is the entire house, and the Lords are extremely experienced from decades in politics.
The Lords may set their own time for debate while the Commons are restricted by allocation of time motions (Guillotines). Party influence is less important and there is less government dominance as a result.
The Lords are more willing to challenge the government too; for example the 2017 Brexit Amendment challenged the government’s policy on the rights of EU nationals living in the UK, or in 2005 the Terrorism Act: The House of Lords introduced several amendments, and would not back down for 30 hours until a compromise was reached.
However, the Lords are restricted by the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 which mean they may only delay legislation for a year.
Upper house powers (USA)
> Senate has separate committees, but has the first hearing of appointments made to cabinet and federal judge positions.
> As a result influence final Senate outcome: for example the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved Betsy DeVos’ nomination on a party-line vote, sending her nomination to the Senate floor DeVos was confirmed by the Senate by a 51–50 margin, with Vice President Mike Pence having to break the tie in favour of DeVos’s nomination.
> Much more room for partisanship than in the Lords; for example in 2015 the Senate outright refused to even review Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland for partisan reasons.
Freedom of Information Act?
The Freedom of Information Act (2000) improved availability of information for committees to access; however there are exemptions to how much access the Act can provide; for example “where disclosure of the information would infringe parliamentary privilege” is an exemption of access.
In the US the Freedom of Information Act is far more extensive; for example during the Watergate Scandal Senator Ervin’s investigative committee was given a Supreme Court ruling that gave them access to Whitehouse recordings that overruled Nixon’s claim to “Executive Privilege”.
Powers to call witnesses and papers USA
In the US, the Select Committees have the power of subpoena; this means witnesses and papers called before the select committee are required to do so by law or will face a penal response. For example, Michael Brown as head of FEMA was requested to appear before the Hurricane Katrina select committee in 2005 over conduct in handling of the Katrina disaster.
