In our constitutional system, congressional oversight of the executive branch is an important tool. As a co-equal branch of government, and the one that passes legislation and appropriates funds to carry out public policy, Congress has an obligation to the Constitution, and to citizens, to hold the executive branch accountable. In this episode, Senior Fellow introduces the new , explains why oversight is so important, and shares her views on recent news about some of the Trump administration’s responses to oversight requests. Also on today’s episode, meet new scholar , who joined the Metropolitan Policy Program after serving in the White House as the nation’s first special assistant to the president for infrastructure. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts  or on , send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .