Structural reforms can be helpful, but for oversight to really work it takes a clear message from congressional leadership that oversight is a priority and that it will be done in a bipartisan, coordinated, systematic way. The key role of the House Speaker, the Senate Majority Leader and the Minority Leaders cannot be overstated. The will of individual Members to do oversight will ultimately depend on incentives and rewards to do the necessary work. Perhaps a better coordination between party and committee leaders on the existing oversight agenda requirement would produce more meaningful agendas that are more the result of a committee process. The more Members feel they are part of the larger project and play a role in devising it, the more they will be inclined to make it succeed.
Any new process can produce unintended consequences.
Though it is tempting to limit the number of supplementals, this would defeat the purpose of truly emergency supplementals needed to deal expeditiously with unexpected needs resulting from disasters, war, etc. It is clear that supplementals are increasingly being used for non-emergency matters and to circumvent the spending caps. Leadership controls and presidential veto threats remain the best safeguards against allowing these trends to get out of control. Ideally, if you are going to plan on a supplemental in the second session, the President's revised estimates should be sent to Congress no later than June 1 so that any supplemental spending could be acted on by the July or August recesses. Reconciliation should not be done in an off-year unless it is needed for emergency purposes.