Congress has been doing less with more.

 

Since the end of the 1970s, the U.S. House and Senate have drastically cut back on the number of hearings they have held, according to the Brookings Institution. The House these days is holding about two-thirds of what it once did, while the Senate is only performing half as many hearings.

 

Meanwhile, lawmakers have been expanding their budgets. Over the last decade, Congress’ budget has increased at twice the rate of inflation and nearly doubled from $1.2 billion a decade ago to $2.3 billion now, according to Republican analyst Bruce Bartlett, who worked in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, citing figures released by the office of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma).

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

The Decline of Congressional Oversight, in One Chart (by Suzy Khimm, Washington Post)