Evaluate whether Congress fulfils its oversight function effectively

Question 1

Intro (context)

Answer 1

• Congress: bicameral structure - composing Senate and House
• Oversight - implied power of congress - review and investigation of activities of the executive branch
• In recent years - debate has been sparked over its effectiveness of its oversight function

Question 2

Themes

Answer 2

• Unified/divided govt
• Supreme Court court
• Loopholes

Question 3

Intro (judgement)

Answer 3

• Overall - congress doesn’t effectively oversee the other branches

Question 4

P1 - unified govt

Answer 4

• ## Standing committees and select committees - designed for oversight - only function when Congress isn’t controlled by president’s party

Question 5

P2 - divided govt

Answer 5

• Arguably poses similar issues to unified govt
• E.g. - removal of GOP majority in 2006 election - Democrats overly criticised Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan to secure public opinion points - rather than fulfil its role
• Critics view oversight flawed during both divided or unified government

However - weak argument

• Partisan reasons interfere during divided govt - Congress still fulfils oversight function - no matter if it’s over-the-top
• But during divided govt - the function isn’t carried out to a satisfactory standard
• Implies that if issues due to party control are the nature of congress the function is still carried out under divided govt and ignored under unified govt
• Meaning that congress fails to effectively oversee the executive at all times