Jim Townsend and Elise Bean, The Levin Center

1:48 Elise Bean Intro
2:43 What are your research interests related to Congress?
6:50 How to define the oversight role of Congress
8:51 How Congress conducts oversight investigations
10:38 How an investigative oversight team is composed
12:12 Are congressional staff shared or are they split by party?
14:18 How is time allocated by staff during an investigation?
16:37 How are investigations prioritized between the policy goals of the committee vs. addressing new problems that may arise?
20:02 How Congress conducts oversight of the Executive Branch
22:57 How are committees identifying problems that should be investigated?
26:18 How are the outcomes of laws passed by Congress evaluated through oversight?
31:10 What are the research priorities of the Levin Center?
37:22 How congressional oversight teams ARE structured vs. how they SHOULD be structured
42:50 Using full time staff vs. consultants/contractors
44:34 What framework can be used to find the right budget for congressional committees?
47:23 Sunset Provisions/Building oversight mechanisms into legislation
[Lightning Round]
48:51 What should representation mean in our democracy?
50:36 – How would your ideal Congress allocate its time?
52:40 – How should debate, deliberation, or dialogue occur or be structured in Congress?
55:46 – What book or article most shaped your thinking with respect to congressional reform?
57:55 – What plans do you have for your research over the long term?