Follow the flow › Step 16 of 16 · Voting path
16. Oversight and hearings
After money is spent, Congress checks how it went. Committees hold hearings, ask agencies questions, and read audits. Inspectors general and the GAO look for waste. What they find shapes next year's money decision, and that closes the loop. You can take part: write to your officials with a sourced question.
Who holds the money or the vote here?
Committees, inspectors general, GAO, state auditors, and you.
How often does it happen?
All year; most budget oversight happens before the next appropriations.
Where the records come from
Federal data is the same for everyone. When you pick a state, the state and local rows are the places to look for your state. "Have now" means PSI Sci already collects it; "Planned" means we list the source but do not collect it yet.
| Level | Source | Format | How often | On PSI Sci |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | GAO reports; Oversight.gov (inspectors general) | page/API | weekly | Planned |
| Federal | Congress.gov committee hearings | page | weekly | Planned |
| State | State auditor reports (example: the Texas one) | as issued | Planned | |
| County | County auditor reports | yearly | Planned | |
| City | City auditor reports | yearly | Planned | |
| District | Your member's committee hearings | page | weekly | Planned |
| ZIP | (use your district) | - | - | Not used |
See these sources as searchable records (rendered live).
See it on PSI Sci now
Variable names
| Variable | Federal | State | County | City | District | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hearing_id | hearing_id | hearing_id | hearing_id | hearing_id | hearing_id | hearing_id |
report_id | report_id | report_id | report_id | report_id | report_id | report_id |
gao_report_id | gao_report_id | gao_report_id | gao_report_id | gao_report_id | gao_report_id | gao_report_id |
ig_report_id | ig_report_id | ig_report_id | ig_report_id | ig_report_id | ig_report_id | ig_report_id |
recommendation_status | fed_recommendation_status | st_recommendation_status | cnty_recommendation_status | cty_recommendation_status | dist_recommendation_status | zip_recommendation_status |
IDs (like bioguide_id, bill_id, piid, zcta) have no prefix because they already say what they point to.