Summary: The Program Evaluation Act of 1977 represents a major landmark in the evolution of congressional oversight, and interest in this subject, stimulated by the legislative proposals, will lead to badly needed improvements in the oversight process and in the operations of the federal government. A resolution concerning the program review process would have program reviews, including evaluations, available on a time schedule tied to each committee's oversight plan. This would provide the committees the flexibility they need to plan meaningful program reviews. The definition of program includes exercises of the federal taxing power and other activities that do not have directly associated federal expenditures. The GAO work under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to develop standard classifications for fiscal, budgetary, and program-related information provides a basis for ensuring an appropriate degree of consistency. Although the concept embodied in oversight reform proposals is not complex, guidance to agencies could become confused by separate planning processes in the House and Senate; committees should achieve a coordinated approach between the two Houses of Congress. In the evaluation process, the committees should concentrate on identifying questions to be answered rather than on the methodology of the process.
