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If Congress wants to effect change, they can literally write new laws. I'm far less convinced that their investigative and committee powers should be held in

If Congress wants to effect change, they can literally write new laws. I'm far less convinced that their investigative and committee powers should be held in that high of a regard, they're too easily hijacked by partisan politics and often fail to have any meaningful impact. If they're truly that concerned about the problem, then make it illegal for federal law enforcement agencies to buy data on suspects or investigative targets from third-party sources. If you don't definitively kill the market, then I suspect you might just be looking for a political hand out.

disgruntledphd2 6y ago
Surely Congress needs to be able to investigate these matters before writing new laws? I'm finding it hard to understand why you wouldn't want congressional committees (i.e. the people who regulate the country) to have the power to investigate bodies established and funded by Congress. Can you clarify?
- will4274 6y ago
  He clarified in his original post. He said: > they're too easily hijacked by partisan politics and often fail to have any meaningful impact. When somebody says "I think X because Y", please don't fire back with "I finding it hard to understand why you think X, can you clarify?"
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    That doesn't really tell me anything. If I had some examples of this then it would be easy to determine how serious a problem this is. His/her statement is relatively vacuous without further clarification, which is why I asked for it.
    - will4274 6y ago
      I mean. The endless hearings about Clinton's emails? The endless hearing about Benghazi? Obamacare? The endless hearings about Trump and Russia and election interference? Going futher back - McCarthy and communism, Howard Hughes and airlines. MLB and steroids? Virtually all Americans believe that some congessional hearings were just useless partisan exercise - they just differ on which ones. I think the examples are self evident to most people who follow American politics. If you had indicated that you were a foreigner and indicated that you were asking for an example, not a clarification, I might have given a kinder response.
grecy 6y ago
> If Congress wants to effect change, they can literally write new laws An existing law says CBP must answer questions from Congress, but they're simply not complying. How would writing any new law fix that? It doesn't matter what any new laws states, CBP can just continue to not follow them.

disgruntledphd2 6y ago

Surely Congress needs to be able to investigate these matters before writing new laws? I'm finding it hard to understand why you wouldn't want congressional committees (i.e. the people who regulate the country) to have the power to investigate bodies established and funded by Congress. Can you clarify?

will4274 6y ago
He clarified in his original post. He said: > they're too easily hijacked by partisan politics and often fail to have any meaningful impact. When somebody says "I think X because Y", please don't fire back with "I finding it hard to understand why you think X, can you clarify?"
- disgruntledphd2 6y ago
  That doesn't really tell me anything. If I had some examples of this then it would be easy to determine how serious a problem this is. His/her statement is relatively vacuous without further clarification, which is why I asked for it.
  - will4274 6y ago
    I mean. The endless hearings about Clinton's emails? The endless hearing about Benghazi? Obamacare? The endless hearings about Trump and Russia and election interference? Going futher back - McCarthy and communism, Howard Hughes and airlines. MLB and steroids? Virtually all Americans believe that some congessional hearings were just useless partisan exercise - they just differ on which ones. I think the examples are self evident to most people who follow American politics. If you had indicated that you were a foreigner and indicated that you were asking for an example, not a clarification, I might have given a kinder response.

grecy 6y ago

> If Congress wants to effect change, they can literally write new laws An existing law says CBP must answer questions from Congress, but they're simply not complying. How would writing any new law fix that? It doesn't matter what any new laws states, CBP can just continue to not follow them.