House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The House Oversight Committee traces its roots to the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, formed in 1927 from eleven separate committees that had each watched spending by one department. It has been renamed several times, as Government Operations, Government Reform, Oversight and Government Reform, and Oversight and Accountability, and returned to Oversight and Government Reform in 2025. It is one of the largest committees in the House.

Its legislative jurisdiction covers the federal civil service, government organization and management, the Postal Service, the census, federal records, and the District of Columbia. Its distinctive power comes from House rules allowing it to investigate any matter at any time, without regard to other committees' jurisdiction. Its chair can issue subpoenas, and the committee frequently holds high-profile hearings with cabinet secretaries, agency heads, and private witnesses.

Because it can investigate anything, the committee is often the House majority's main tool for scrutinizing an administration of the other party, and its work tends to be among the most partisan in Congress. Its investigations have ranged from the Clinton administration's dealings and the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina to the Obama administration's Fast and Furious gun operation and the business dealings of the Biden family. In the 119th Congress it is chaired by James Comer, with Robert Garcia as ranking member.