How to Do Congressional Oversight

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The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) recently published a new handbook outlining “best practices” for congressional oversight of government. It’s available free to members of Congress and their staff members. If you are not a denizen of the Hill, you can buy it online.

I’ll give you the bottom line for free: don’t assume that everyone else knows what you know or is asking the questions you’re asking. Wondering why something isn’t being investigated? Bother your Congresscritter. Have a whistle to blow? Bother your Congresscritter. Better yet, let us know: a lot of the time, media attention can get the ball rolling when it wasn’t before. Try scoop [at] motherjones [dot] com. We’re listening.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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