Senator (Boxer) Threatens to Sue (NRC) Over Withheld Documents

[Agnosticsherbet]

5. Allowing the public to know how dangerous, substandard parts came to be used

in a nuclear power plant isn't intervention. That is oversight. Had the NRC done their job, it would not have happened. They didn't. Finding out why is oversight. If they did that at one Nuclear Power Plant, have they done it to others? That is a public safety issue that requires their oversight.

In my opinion, Congress should do a lot more real oversight. The NSA could have used a lot more. I was disturbed that the NSA was allowed to run a program passed by Congress and funded by Congress that Congress did not know, understand, or monitor with oversight. (Well, it is quite possible that the relevant members simply didn't want to know.)

Oversight, of course, is sometimes used for political purposes. Most of the investigation into Benghazi and Fast and Furious were partisan political witch hunts.

Finally, the butting of heads between the Legislative and the Executive are actually important features of our government. A Legislative branch that is jealous of its power and fights to protect it is required to keep a government that consists of three, coequal branches functioning. Since Roosevelt (and even more so Truman) there has been a erosion of Congressional power and an enhancement of the Executive. The Founding fathers were rightfully worried about an executive branch gaining too much power and becoming a tyranny.