House Oversight Committee

Standing committee
Active United States House of Representatives 119th Congress
History
Formed	1927
Leadership
Chair	James Comer (R) Since January 10, 2023
Ranking member	Robert Garcia (D) Since June 24, 2025
Structure
Seats	47
Political parties	Majority (26)  Republican (26) Minority (21)  Democratic (21)
Subcommittees
Cyber Security, Information Technology and Government Innovation National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Government Operations Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs Health Care and Financial Services Delivering on Government Efficiency Federal Law Enforcement Coronavirus Crisis (Select) (118th Congress)
Website
oversight.house.gov (Republican) democrats-oversight.house.gov (Democratic)
Rules
House Rule X Committee Rules (118th Congress)

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TheCommittee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigativecommittee of theUnited States House of Representatives. The committee's broadjurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the House. Its chair is one of only three in the House with the authority to issuesubpoenas without a committee vote or consultation with theranking member.^[1] However, in recent history, it has become practice to refrain from unilateral subpoenas.^[2]

Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) served as acting chair of the committee following the death ofElijah Cummings (D-Maryland) on October 17, 2019;^[3][4][5] she was elected chair a month later.^[6][7] RepresentativeJim Jordan served as ranking member from January 3, 2019, until March 12, 2020. On March 31, 2020, Jordan switched to become the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee instead. RepresentativeMark Meadows served as ranking member from March 13, 2020, until March 30, 2020, when he resigned his congressional seat to becomeWhite House Chief of Staff.^[5][8] RepresentativeJames Comer (R-Kentucky) was selected to succeed Meadows on June 29, 2020. Comer became Chair when Republicans regained control of the House majority,^[9] with RepresentativeJamie Raskin (D-Maryland) being elected as Ranking Member.^[10]Politico reported in late January that RepresentativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) would be appointed as the Vice Ranking Member.^[11]

For the 119th Congress, Comer was reelected to serve as Chair.^[12] Raskin sought, and won, the top position on theHouse Judiciary Committee.^[13] RepresentativeGerry Connolly, who previously served as the Chair of theOversight's Subcommittee on Government Operations during the 116th and 117th Congresses, and Ocasio-Cortez sought the Ranking Member position. TheHouse Democratic Steering and Policy Committee voted 34 to 27 to appoint Connolly,^[14] with the full caucus vote being 131–84.^[15] On April 28, 2025, Gerry Connolly announced that he would not seek re-election at the end of his term and that he was stepping back from his Ranking Member position.^[16]Stephen Lynch was named Acting Ranking Member pending Connolly's formal resignation from the role and the selection of a successor by theHouse Democratic Caucus.^[17] Connolly died on May 21, 2025.^[18]

The panel now known as the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was originally the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, created in 1927 to consolidate 11 separate Committees on Expenditures that had previously overseen the spending of various departments of the federal government.^[19][20]

The Committee on Expenditures became the Committee on Government Operations in 1952.^[19] The new name was intended to reflect the committee's broad mission: to oversee "the operations of Government activities at all levels with a view to determining their economy and efficiency".^[20]

After Republicans gained control of the House in the1994 elections, the committee was reorganized to include seven subcommittees instead of 14. This reorganization consolidated the jurisdiction previously covered by three full committees and resulted in a 50 percent cut in staff.^[21] In 2007, a reorganization undera new Democratic majority combined the duties of the seven subcommittees into five.^[22]

In the106th Congress, the panel was renamed the Committee on Government Reform. While retaining the agenda of the former Committee on Government Operations, the new committee also took on the responsibilities of the former House Committee on thePost Office andCivil Service and the Committee on theDistrict of Columbia. On January 4, 2007, the110th Congress renamed it the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The name was changed again by the116th Congress to the Committee on Oversight and Reform. For the118th Congress, Republicans changed the name to Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The119th Congress changed the name back to Committee on Oversight and Government Reform when Republicans won aGovernment trifecta during the2024 United States elections. Since 2007, it has simply been called the "Oversight Committee" for short.

In 1997, the Republican majority on the committee changed its rules to allow the chair,Dan Burton (R-Indiana), to issue subpoenas without the consent of the committee's ranking Democrat.^[23] From 1997 to 2002, Burton used this authority to issue 1,052 unilateral subpoenas, many of them related to alleged misconduct by PresidentBill Clinton, at a cost of more than $35 million.^[24]

By contrast, from 2003 to 2005, underTom Davis (R-Virginia) as chair, the committee issued only three subpoenas to theBush administration.^[24]

After Republicans retook the House in the2010 elections, the new chair,Darrell Issa (R-California), escalated the use of subpoenas again, issuing more than 100 in four years during theObama administration.^[25] That was more than the combined total issued by the previous three chairs—Davis,Henry Waxman (D-California), andEdolphus Towns (D-New York)—from 2003 to 2010.^[26]

In July 2025James Comer subpoenaed convicted paedophileGhislaine Maxwell to testify before the committee,^[27] ultimately prompting her transfer to the federal penitentiary with the least security in the US after her interview with Deputy Attorney-GeneralTodd Blanche.^[28][29] It was remarked byLawrence O'Donnell in August 2025 that among former justice department leaders on Comer's list,Alexander Acosta's name was absent.^[30]

Between 2000 and 2006, many major events and scandals in the Bush administration generated few or no subpoenas from the Republican-led committee. These events included theSeptember 11 attacks; the leaking of classified information identifyingCentral Intelligence Agency agentValerie Plame; CIA-backed abuses atAbu Ghraib prison; the Bush administration claim that Iraq possessedweapons of mass destruction; illegal campaign contributions by lobbyists, includingJack Abramoff; deaths and damage due to theFederal Emergency Management Agency's weak response toHurricane Katrina; andPhilip Cooney's suppression of data demonstrating the existence ofglobal warming. After the release of theDowning Street memo, which contained incriminating information on the buildup to theIraq War, Democrats in the minority were refused a hearing chamber and were forced to meet in the basement of theUnited States Capitol.^[31]

However, under Davis as chair from 2003 to 2007, the committee launched two controversial investigations. One of those investigations—triggered by the publication ofJose Canseco's memoir,Juiced—concerned the use ofanabolic steroids byMajor League Baseball players.^{[citation needed]}

An inquiry was also made into the case of Terry Schiavo. In that investigation, which concerned the removal of afeeding tube from a woman in apersistent vegetative state, the committee issued a subpoena requiring Schiavo to "appear" so that members could "examine nutrition and hydration which incapacitated patients receive as part of their care".^[32] The apparent objective of this, beyond providing information to committee members, was to delay the pending withdrawal of life support from Schiavo, whose wishes were in dispute, while Congress considered legislation specifically targeted at her case. Members of the Democratic minority opposed the action. Davis said it was "a legitimate legislative inquiry".^[33]

The committee also investigatedWorld Wrestling Entertainment's wellness and drug policies, amid speculation about a possible link between steroid use andthe death of WWE performerChris Benoit.^[34]

On July 8, 2009, committee Republicans released an investigative staff report discussing the2008 financial crisis. The report alleged that the government had caused the collapse by meddling in the United States' housing and lending market in the name of "affordable housing".^[35]

In February 2012, the committee held a hearing on thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mandate that would "require all employers to cover birth control free of cost to women". Specifically, Republicans on the committee alleged that theDepartment of Health and Human Services's rules governing exemptions for religious institutions violated theFree Exercise Clause of the Constitution.^[36] The chair, Darrell Issa, said the hearing was "meant to be more broadly about religious freedom and not specifically about the contraception mandate in the Health Reform law".^[37]

AfterAaron Swartz committed suicide on January 11, 2013, the committee investigated the Justice Department's actions in prosecuting Swartz on hacking charges.^[38] On January 28, Issa and ranking memberElijah Cummings published a letter to Attorney GeneralEric Holder, questioning whether prosecutors had intentionally added felony counts to increase the amount of prison time Swartz faced.^[39]

On July 10, 2019, a hearing was held by theUnited States House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties entitled "Kids in Cages: Inhumane Treatment at the Border" on the "inhumane treatment of children and families" inside child detention centers on the southern US border.Jamie Raskin (D-MD) chaired the session which included testimony from Yazmin Juarez, the mother of Mariee who died at the age of nineteen months while detained in aUnited States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Dilley, Texas.^[40] In his opening statement Raskin said that "hundreds of thousands of people" have responded to the "harsh policies" by deciding to "migrate now before things get even worse".^[41]

On December 2, 2024, the United States House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee's COVID-19 panel issued its final report ahead of a hearing that week, which, among other things, argues for the highly controversialCOVID-19 lab leak theory, or lab leak hypothesis; the idea that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, came from a laboratory.^[42] The report is also critical of mask mandates and lockdowns.

According to House rules, the committee has jurisdiction over the following areas:^[43]

1. Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement.
2. Municipal affairs of theDistrict of Columbia in general (other than appropriations).
3. Federal paperwork reduction.
4. Government management and accounting measures generally.
5. Holidays and celebrations.
6. Overall economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities, including Federal procurement.
7. National archives.
8. Population and demography generally, including theCensus.
9. Postal service generally, including transportation of the mails.
10. Public information and records.
11. Relationship of theFederal Government to the States and municipalities generally.
12. Reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government.

Resolutions electing members:H.Res. 13 (Chair),H.Res. 14 (Ranking Member),H.Res. 31 (R),H.Res. 40 (D),H.Res. 55 (D),H.Res. 538 (Ranking Garcia),H.Res. 721 (Walkinshaw)

Pursuant to committee rule 14, the committee chair is authorized to appoint panels or task forces to carry out the duties and functions of the committee.

• Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (117th–118th Congress)
  • Dissolved by James Comer at the end of the 118th Congress
• Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (116th–117th Congress)
  • Dissolved by James Comer during the 118th Congress
• Subcommittee on Environment (115th Congress–117th Congress)
  • Dissolved by James Comer during the 118th Congress
• Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs (115th Congress)
  • Dissolved by Elijah Cummings during the 116th Congress
• Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets (111th Congress–113th Congress)
  • Dissolved the end of the 114th United States Congress.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(September 2025)

Resolutions electing members:H.Res. 14 (Chair),H.Res. 15 (Ranking Member),H.Res. 70 (R),H.Res. 71 (D),H.Res. 704 (D),H.Res. 913 (R),H.Res. 1034 (D)

Subcommittees

Sources:H.Res.9 (Chair),H.Res.10 (Ranking Member)H.Res.62 (D),H.Res.63 (R),H.Res.789 (Removing Paul Gosar),H.Res.825 (D - Shontel Brown),H.Res.1225 (R - Mike Flood)

Sources:H.Res. 24 (Chair),H.Res. 25 (Ranking Member),H.Res. 67 (D),H.Res. 68 (R)

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee underwent numerous membership changes over the course of the116th United States Congress.

• July 10, 2019:Fred Keller (R-PA) added to committee roster.H.Res. 481
• October 17, 2019:Elijah Cummings (D-MD) passed away. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) became acting chair.
• November 3, 2019: Vice ChairKatie Hill (D-CA) resigned.^[56]
• November 20, 2019: Carolyn Maloney elected permanent chair.^[57]H.Res. 725
• December 19, 2019:Katie Porter (D-CA) andDeb Haaland (D-NM) added to committee roster.H.Res. 773
• February 27, 2020:Ro Khanna (D-CA) added to committee roster, ranking after Harley Rouda.H.Res. 870
• March 21, 2020: Ranking MemberJim Jordan (R-OH) stepped down to assume the Ranking Membership of theJudiciary Committee;Mark Meadows (R-NC) assumes Ranking Membership.^[58]
• March 30, 2020:Mark Meadows (R-NC) resigned to becomeWhite House Chief of Staff.^[8] Jim Jordan resumes Ranking Membership temporarily.
• May 8, 2020:Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) added to committee roster, ranking after Harley Rouda.H.Res. 954
• June 29, 2020:James Comer (R-KY) elected permanent Ranking Member.^[59]
• July 1, 2020:Gary Palmer (R-AL) added to committee roster, ranking after Michael Cloud.H.Res. 1037

Subcommittees

Sources:H.Res. 6 (Chair),H.Res. 7 (Ranking Member),H.Res. 45 (D)H.Res. 51 (R),H.Res. 52,H.Res. 95 andH.Res. 127 (D)

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