United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the House. Its chair is one of only three in the House with the authority to issue subpoenas without a committee vote or consultation with the ranking member. However, in recent history, it has become practice to refrain from unilateral subpoenas. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) served as acting chair of the committee following the death of Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) on October 17, 2019; she was elected chair a month later. Representative Jim Jordan served as ranking member from January 3, 2019, until March 12, 2020. On March 31, 2020, Jordan switched to become the ranking member of the Judiciary committee instead. Representative Mark Meadows served as ranking member from March 13, 2020, until March 30, 2020, when he resigned his congressional seat to become White House Chief of Staff. Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky) was selected to succeed Meadows on June 29, 2020. Comer became Chair when Republicans regained control of the House majority, with Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) being elected as Ranking Member. Politico reported in late January that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) would be appointed as the Vice Ranking Member. The panel now known as the Committee on Oversight and Accountability was originally the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, created in 1927 to consolidate 11 separate Committees on Expenditures that had previously overseen the spending of various departments of the federal government. The modern-day committee's immediate predecessor, the Committee on Government Operations, was established in 1952. The new name was intended to reflect the committee's broad mission: to oversee "the operations of Government activities at all levels with a view to determining their economy and efficiency".