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Congressional Oversight Of Government

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When the three branches of government were created a system of “check and balances” was built into the Constitution in order to keep one branch of government from becoming too large and too powerful. Actions that are taken by one branch of government affect the other branches, thereby introducing “oversight”. The intelligence community has both internal and external oversight. The internal oversight comes from the CIA Inspector General that is embedded within the intelligence community. The external oversight comes from both the executive and legislative branches of the government. The legislative branch, or Congress, provides this checks and balances through the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. …show more content…

They were designed to “prevent future abuses of power and maintain ongoing and regular oversight of the intelligence community” (Rosenbach, 2009). Congressional oversight of intelligence activities is the act of congress watching over and having knowledge of operations and missions that are taking place within the intelligence community. “Congressional oversight prevents waste and fraud; protects civil liberties and individual rights; ensures executive compliance with the law; gathers information for making laws and educating the public; and evaluates executive performance” (Oversight Powers of Congress, 2012). Without this oversight the intelligence community could very well do as they please with a budget and over stepping their bounds on American civil

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Partisanship should not have an adversarial relationship but there should be unity in Congress when an administration resists oversight. Nor should a contentious relationship develop between the Oversight Committee and those being looked into. Government transparency is the first step in preventing the agencies from sweeping things under the rug or exchanging favors for overlooking transgressions. Checks and balances require unity of Congress when a committee issues a subpoena. Issa experienced that; “modern political practice dictates that the president’s party in Congress plays defense, attacking oversight to blunt its effectiveness” (Issa p.18).

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In addition, James Madison stated the idea of Checks and Balances and what it will do to the government, “...the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other... The three branches should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” This statement means that each branch should have a different power, so they wouldn’t have any constitutional control over each other. That makes each branch check on the other branches to make sure they are doing everything correctly. One way that the Judicial Branch can check on the Legislative Branch is that when Congress creates laws, the Court can declare laws unconstitutional because some laws might not be a good idea for the people of the country, so the Judicial has the power to take away the possible law.

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Ever heard of the Articles of Confederation? Thought not. That’s because within only 8 years of their ratification, they were gotten rid of. This was because, among other things, there were no courts, no national currency, and no taxes. So in May of 1787, 55 men gathered together in Philadelphia to come up with a better plan.

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These checks are ones on the president, executive branch, and just government, in general, to make sure they are not overstepping their powers. Checks and balances are important because it keeps people in power faithful to the constitution and the rule of law. The checks include branches of government such as the Judiciary, otherwise known as the Courts, who work as a neutral arbiter. For instance, when President Trump issued his third provisions of the travel ban, it still had denied the rights of Muslims under the 14th Amendment stating “equal protection” from coming into the country (Cornell). That is when the Hawaii federal judge, Derrick Watson, stepped in and blocked the major controversial parts of the order.

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1. The role of the Congress is to enact legislation, approve treaties and foreign policy related budget spending. It has equal power to the President, although their respective influence varies over time. 2. Congressional Accommodation refers to the moments in which the Congress cooperates with the President, allowing him to exercise more power in foreign politics.

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In document C there are the 3 branches of government and arrows pointing from one to the other telling us how each branch checks one another. Some of these are, the president can veto different laws if he does not like them, but Congress can override this veto and pass the law anyways if they have a majority vote to override it. The Courts can declare acts of either branch as unconstitutional. Congress can also impeach members of any other branch and can remove them from office. All of this means that whatever one branch does, it must go through the other two so no corrupt laws can be passed.

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In addition, the executive branch was responsible for enforcing or vetoing laws passed by Congress (in addition to its other powers). As for the judiciary, it is responsible for interpreting federal laws and the constitution and for overseeing the decisions made by the federal and state courts. Before when it was unable to address economic and boundary disputes, the judiciary under the constitution was able to address a wide range conflicts. Above all, these three branches of government share equal power to prevent one form of government from becoming too

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This method of separation is known as “checks and balances” referring to the three branches of government the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The legislative branch is supposed to be the stronger one. It consists of the Congress divided in two chambers: a House of Representatives and a Senate. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people and have the responsibility of encouraging popular consent and the Senate is elected by the state legislatures. The executive branch consists of the president, who has the power to receive international ambassadors, negotiate treaties with acceptance of the Senate, and appoint major personnel.

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203 Words | 1 Pages

Congressional oversight is a process developed by Congress to review, monitor, and supervise federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. The Appropriations and legislative committees is one method of congressional oversight. The Appropriations Committee has power over an agency’s budget and the legislative committees approve an agency’s spending.

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Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a novel that revolves around the concept of civilization versus savagery. The boys argue about points that eventually split the boys amongst themselves. These disputes come up multiple times over the course of the novel. One of which being the fight over the leader of the boys. Some believed the leader should be Jack while others believed it should be Ralph.

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An example of checks and balances is the executive branch is getting check by the legislative branch. If the legislative branch does not announce the nominate what the president selects they think that the president will gain much power

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The NSA or the National Security Agency carries out most of the domestic surveillance in the United States. Before the 9/11 attacks the NSA needed approval from a court, but after the attacks, they were given free reign to copy any data that possibly linked to terrorist activities. This led to many arguments over whether this collection of data was unconstitutional or not. The extent of this surveillance shocked many people; many civil rights advocates thought that this surveillance breached United States citizens’ rights. Because of the threat of domestic surveillance in the United States it should be decreased drastically but not entirely stopped.

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Have You Ever Wondered How The Constitution Guarded Against Tyranny? Have you ever wondered how the constitution guarded against tyranny? This was the main question facing the 55 delegates at the constitutional convention held in philadelphia in 1787. Their job was to “frame a government that was strong enough to serve the needs of the new nation, and yet did not create any kind of tyranny.” , (Background Essay).

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These checks and balances ensure a separation of powers and prevents Madison’s fear of corruption due to too much

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The executive branch can check the laws congress wants to pass and can veto them if he disagrees. The Legislative branch can check the executive by accepting the already vetoed law and can impeach or fire the president out of office. The Justice Branch can make sure peoples rights and liberties are being followed and check if the laws follow the constitution's rules. In the text, it says “To further limit government power the framers provided for separation of powers the constitution separates the government into three branches Congress of the legislative branch makes the laws. The executive branch headed by the president carries out laws.

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