United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Committee information

• Date created: 1816
• Members: Forty-seven members in the 119th Congress (2025)
• Subcommittees: Government Operations; Health Care and Financial Services; Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation; Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs; Federal Law Enforcement; Delivering on Government Efficiency; Military and Foreign Affairs

Role

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform oversees how the federal government operates. It is specifically imbued with the authority to investigate a wide range of government matters to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. In addition to its responsibilities in direct relation to government operations, the committee also plays a key role in overseeing government management of such issues as health care, information technology, energy and environment, national security, the interior, and intergovernmental affairs. Along with all this, the committee is also responsible for regulating the US Postal Service and holding congressional jurisdiction over Washington, DC. In essence, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee functions as a sort of internal affairs body that investigates all federal government activities. As a result of its wide jurisdictional berth and sweeping investigative authority, it is one of the most powerful congressional committees.

The House of Representatives and the Senate are both subdivided into a series of smaller committees. Each congressional committee is tasked with overseeing particular aspects of government and carrying out specific responsibilities. As part of their responsibilities, each committee investigates, reviews, and votes on legislation pertaining to issues that fall within the purview of their particular jurisdiction. Each committee’s ultimate responsibility is to make recommendations and bring any measures at hand to a full vote on the House or Senate floor. Most congressional committees are also internally divided into separate subcommittees that specialize in specific aspects of the full committee’s overall mandate. As established in the first Congress, these committees were originally temporary bodies designed to be dissolved when their purpose was completed. In time, however, congressional committees became permanent and grew in number. In fact, the number of committees eventually grew so high that new rules had to be developed in the twentieth century to reduce the number of active committees and place limitations on the maximum allowable number of subcommittees.

During the 119th Congress, the House had a roster of twenty permanent committees, while the Senate had sixteen. Overall, there are more than 200 committees and subcommittees between the two congressional chambers. House committees are governed by special rules that do not apply in the Senate. Specifically, each House committee is limited to no more than five subcommittees, though an additional oversight subcommittee functioning in a supervisory capacity can be created. Only a few House committees, including the Appropriations Committee and the Armed Services Committee, are granted special dispensation to exceed the prescribed number of subcommittees. Senate committees have no restrictions on the number of subcommittees they may include.

Congressional committees take one of three possible forms: standing, select, and joint. Standing committees are permanent bodies whose jurisdiction is clearly outlined in the House Rules. They hold legislative authority to deliberate on measures and bring them to the floor for further consideration. Standing committees are also responsible for overseeing any federal agencies or programs that fall within their particular jurisdiction. In addition, most standing committees are tasked with making funding recommendations for the various agencies and programs they oversee. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is classified as a standing committee.

Select committees are special bodies typically created through a congressional resolution. In most cases, select committees are created for the purpose of conducting investigations or considering matters that fall outside the jurisdiction of existing standing committees. Select committees are often exploratory and do little more than simply investigate the issue at hand. That being said, certain select committees do actually consider legislative action. Regardless of their purpose, select committees are temporary and only exist as long their mandate is active. On occasion, a given select committee can become a standing committee.

Joint committees are bodies comprised of members culled from both the House and Senate. Joint committees are typically tasked with studying a specific issue or carrying out congressional “housekeeping” duties. Joint committees are rarely afforded the opportunity to consider legislative action.

History

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was created in 1816 as the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments. In 1952, it was redubbed the Committee on Government Operations. It retained that title until Republicans assumed control of the House in 1995 and renamed it the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Two years later, its name was shortened to the Committee on Government Reform. When Democrats again claimed the House majority in 2007, the body’s official name was again changed to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

For much of its history, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was seen as having relatively little influence or importance. This is predominantly because the committee typically produces only a small amount of legislation compared to many of its counterparts. Congressional perception of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee began to change, however, when Democrat Jack Brooks became its chairperson in 1975. Brooks transformed the committee into an aggressive investigatory body that extended its authority over a variety of federal agencies. In the years since Brooks’ restructuring, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has evolved into one of the most crucial committees in Congress.

Over time, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s jurisdiction has expanded to include oversight of all federal government bodies and agencies. To facilitate its ability to carry out those responsibilities, the committee is imbued with the authority to investigate all of the subjects within its legislative jurisdiction, as well as any other matter within the jurisdiction of other standing House committees. Specifically, the legislative jurisdiction of the House Oversight and Government Committee as laid out in the House rules include:

• federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement
• municipal affairs of the District of Columbia in general (other than appropriations)
• federal paperwork reduction
• government management and accounting measures
• holidays and celebrations
• overall economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities, including federal procurement
• national archives
• population and demography generally, including the US Census
• postal service generally, including transportation of the mails
• Public information and records
• relationship of the federal government to the states and municipalities generally
• reorganizations in the executive branch of government

In terms of its oversight responsibilities, the House rules also state that the committee is required to continually review and study the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of laws and programs addressing subjects within its jurisdiction; the organization and operation of federal agencies and entities having responsibilities for the administration and execution of laws and programs addressing subjects within its jurisdiction; any conditions or circumstances that may indicate the necessity or desirability of enacting new or additional legislation addressing subjects within its jurisdiction; and future research and forecasting on subjects within its jurisdiction.

In addition, the committee is also responsible for receiving and examining reports of the Comptroller General of the United States and submitting any recommendations it deems necessary based on those reports, evaluating the effects of laws meant to reorganize the legislative or executive branches of government, and studying the various intergovernmental relationships between the States and municipalities and between the United States and any international organizations to which the United States belongs.

Subcommittees

During the 119th Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform consisted of forty-four members, including twenty-six Republicans and eighteen Democrats. The committee’s total membership varies with each session of Congress. The exact ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the committee fluctuates depending on which party holds the House majority during each session of Congress. During the 119th Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had seven permanent subcommittees: Government Operations; Health Care and Financial Services; Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation; Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs; Federal Law Enforcement; Delivering on Government Efficiency; Military and Foreign Affairs.

United States House Committee on Government Operations

This subcommittee holds legislative jurisdiction over the majority of the full committee’s broader jurisdiction. Its full mandate includes the economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities; government management and accounting measures; procurement; grant reform; unfunded mandates; federal property; public information; federal records; the national drug policy; federal civil service; the Office of Management and Budget; the US Postal Service; the Census Bureau; and the District of Columbia. This subcommittee has held hearings in concert with other House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittees on such issues as the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) enforcement of businesses related to Operation Choke Point, the integrity of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and ongoing oversight of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

United States House Committee on Health Care and Financial Services

This subcommittee holds oversight jurisdiction over federal health care policy, the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, and government-wide rules and regulations. Over time, it has held hearings—both independently and in concert with other House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittees—on such issues as local responses to the opioid epidemic, the impact of voluntary restricted distribution systems in the pharmaceutical supply chain, and challenges to freedom of speech on college campuses.

United States House Committee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation

This subcommittee holds oversight jurisdiction over federal information technology, data standards and quality, cybersecurity, information technology infrastructure and acquisition, emerging technologies, privacy, cloud computing, data centers, and intellectual property. During the course of its business, the subcommittee has held hearings on such matters as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and cybersecurity of voting machines.

United States House Committee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs

This subcommittee holds oversight jurisdiction over the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In carrying out its oversight responsibilities, it has held hearings on such topics as the federal permitting process, the regulation of shark finning in the United States, and the management of red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

United States House Committee on Military and Foreign Affairs

This subcommittee holds oversight jurisdiction over the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Justice, the US Agency for International Development, the intelligence community, and the US Mission to the United Nations. As part of its oversight responsibilities, the subcommittee has held hearings on issues such as the United States’ nuclear deal with Iran, bureaucratic challenges to hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico, and the controversy of moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

United States House Committee on Federal Law Enforcement

United States House Committee on Delivering on Government Efficiency

This subcommittee holds oversight jurisdiction over various matters concerning relations between the federal government and state and local governments. More specifically, the subcommittee assists state and local governments helping organizations that represent state and local governments at the federal level to track federal regulatory action, gathering information on state and local impacts from federal agencies, working to standardize the federalism consultation process, advocating for state and local policy considerations to be prioritized at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, focusing on the impact of federal legislation on state and local governments, serving as a liaison with the Congressional Budget Office, and partnering on numerous federalism-related events. As part of its duties, the subcommittee—both independently and in concert with other House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittees—has held hearings on such issues as federally imposed burdens on state and local government, improper payments in the federal government, and environmental barriers to infrastructure development.

Bibliography

“Full Committee.” US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

“Rules Governing House Committee and Subcommittee Assignment Procedures.” Congressional Research Service, 13 Nov. 2024, crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46786. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

“House Committee on Oversight and Reform.” GovTrack, www.govtrack.us/congress/committees/HSGO#subcommittees. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

“House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.” The Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org/cong-cmtes/overview?cmte=HGOV&cmtename=Oversight+and+Government+Reform&cong=118&cycle=2024. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

“House: Oversight and Government Reform Committee.” Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/committee/house-oversight-and-reform/hsgo00. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

“Oversight and Government Reform Committee, House.” Congress A to Z, 5th ed., CQ Press, 2008, pp. 403–04. doi.org/10.4135/9781483300498.n255. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.