United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform

The **Committee on Oversight and Reform** is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives.

The committee has broad jurisdiction and strong legislative authority, which makes it one of the most influential and powerful committees in the House. Its chairman is one of only three in the House that can make subpoenas without a committee vote or talking with the ranking member. However, recently, it has become common to not make a subpoena by themselves..

Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) became the acting chair of the committee after Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) died on October 17, 2019; she was elected chair a month later.

## History

The committee was called the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, and it was created in 1927 to combine 11 separate Committees on Expenditures that had overseen the spending of various federal departments.

### Subpoena usage

In 1997, the Republican majority on the committee changed its rules to allow the chairman, Dan Burton (R-Indiana), to make subpoenas without asking the committee's ranking Democrat. From 1997 to 2002, Burton used this to make 1,052 subpoenas by himself. Many of those subpoenas were related to alleged misconduct by President Bill Clinton. This cost more than $35 million.

## Members, 116th Congress

|Majority|Minority|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign=top|* Carolyn Maloney, New York, _Chair_ * Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia * Lacy Clay, Missouri * Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts * Jim Cooper, Tennessee * Gerry Connolly, Virginia * Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois * Jamie Raskin, Maryland * Harley Rouda, California * Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida * John Sarbanes, Maryland * Peter Welch, Vermont * Jackie Speier, California * Robin Kelly, Illinois * Mark DeSaulnier, California * Brenda Lawrence, Michigan * Stacey Plaskett, U.S. Virgin Islands * Ro Khanna, California * Jimmy Gomez, California, _Vice Chair_ * Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York * Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts * Rashida Tlaib, Michigan * Katie Porter, California (since December 17, 2019) * Deb Haaland, New Mexico (since December 17, 2019)|valign=top|* Jim Jordan, Ohio, _Ranking Member_ * Paul Gosar, Arizona * Virginia Foxx, North Carolina * Thomas Massie, Kentucky * Mark Meadows, North Carolina, until March 30, 2020 * Jody Hice, Georgia * Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin * James Comer, Kentucky * Michael Cloud, Texas * Bob Gibbs, Ohio * Clay Higgins, Louisiana * Ralph Norman, South Carolina * Chip Roy, Texas * Carol Miller, West Virginia * Mark E. Green, Tennessee * Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota * Greg Steube, Florida * Fred Keller, Pennsylvania|
Sources:  (Chair),  (Ranking Member),  (D),  (R)

## Subcommittees

The Committee on Oversight and Reform has six subcommittees.
|Subcommittee|Chair|Ranking Member|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Civil Rights and Civil Liberties|Jamie Raskin (D-MD)|Chip Roy (R-TX)|
|Economic and Consumer Policy|Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)|Michael Cloud (R-TX)|
|Environment|Harley Rouda (D-CA)|James Comer (R-KY)|
|Government Operations|Gerry Connolly (D-VA)|Mark Meadows (R-NC)|
|National Security|Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA)|Jody Hice (R-GA)|
|Coronavirus Crisis (Select)|Jim Clyburn (D-SC)|TBD (R)|

## Related pages

- List of current United States House of Representatives committees

## Other websites

- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (Archive)
- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.
- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Hearings and Meetings Video. Congress.gov.
- OMB Watch a government ethics and reform nonprofit agency
- Plum Book , _United States Government Policy Key Employees and Supporting Positions: About the Committee on Government Reform_
- Records of the Government Operations Committee and its Predecessors at the National Archives and Records Administration

## Infobox (u.s. congressional committee)

- **name**: House Oversight Committee
- **type**: standing
- **chamber**: house
- **congress**: 116th
- **image**: House Oversight Committee.png
- **image size**: 150
- **status**: active
- **formed**: 1927
- **chair**: Carolyn Maloney
- **chair party**: D
- **chair since**: October 17, 2019
- **ranking member**: _Vacant_
- **rm party**: R
- **rm since**: March 30, 2020
- **vice chair**: Jimmy Gomez
- **vc party**: D
- **vc since**: December 19, 2019
- **seats**: 41
- **majority1**: D
- **majority1 seats**: 23
- **minority1**: R
- **minority1 seats**: 18
- **subcommittees**: <div style="text-align:left;">
* United States House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, National Security
* United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations, Government Operations
* United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Economic and Consumer Policy
* United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
* United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment, Environment
</div>