Hearings

HEARING PURPOSE: This hearing will examine the processes agencies use to meet FOIA’s legal requirements and explore barriers to effective and efficient compliance from the FOIA officer’s perspective. The Committee will hear from the witnesses tasked with implementing FOIA at several agencies that need to improve response efforts. HEARING BACKGROUND: ...

HEARING PURPOSE: To examine the use of FOIA requests as a tool for government transparency and explore barriers to accessing public documents from the user’s perspective. The Committee will hear from witnesses that use FOIA in news reporting, academic research, and to conduct government oversight. HEARING BACKGROUND: Enacted in 1966, FOIA is a transparency tool for individuals to ensure government accountability. Under FOIA, requesters may ask ...

HEARING PURPOSE: To examine the Inspector General’s newly released report on its investigation into the March 4, 2015 incident at the White House Complex.  HEARING BACKGROUND: On March 10, 2015, allegations of misconduct were referred to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. The ...

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, May 14th the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing to examine the role that the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) plays in providing parents in the District of Columbia with the option of enrolling their children in a private school if that best suits their children’s academic needs. BACKGROUND: Initially established in 2004 through the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act, and reauthorized for five years ...

HEARING PURPOSE: The hearing will educate Congress and the public about an EMP threat and encourage the Department of Homeland Security to lead an inter-agency protection effort. HEARING BACKGROUND: Though Congress has created multiple commissions to improve protections against an EMP threat, the electrical grid remains under-prepared. Fallout from an EMP event could include months of power loss, affecting basic necessities and resulting in loss of life.

WASHINGTON – Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, 2015 the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing to examine transportation security and airport safety. The hearing titled “Transportation Security: Are Our Airports Safe” will specifically consider aviation security issues raised since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). BACKGROUND: The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) created the Transportation Security ...

WASHINGTON –Tomorrow, Friday, May 1st, the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations will hold a hearing titled “Is the Railroad Retirement Board Doing Enough to Protect Against Fraud?” The hearing will examine the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) occupational disability program and assess the RRB’s process for determining which workers are benefits eligible. HEARING BACKGROUND: From the late 1990s through ...

WASHINGTON – House Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade, and Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules, will conduct its second joint hearing looking into the future viability of Export–Import Bank, which is up for reauthorization in June. During the first joint subcommittee ...

WASHINGTON –On Thursday, April 30th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing titled “EPA Mismanagement.” This hearing will examine cases of employee misconduct and the manner in which they were handled by Environmental Protection Agency senior management. HEARING BACKGROUND: Over the past two years, the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has conducted investigations of multiple cases of serious misconduct ...