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News
New Portrait in Oversight on Senator Carl Levin Released
Marking the one-year anniversary of the passing of its namesake founder Sen. Carl Levin, the Levin Center for Oversight and
Levin Center Interns Assist Senate Investigation into Organ Transplant Problems
Wayne Law Students Gain Capitol Hill Oversight Experience An investigation by the Senate Committee on Finance into problems with the
New Op Ed in ‘The Hill’
Read Jim Townsend’s new Op Ed in ‘The Hill’ entitled “The Jan. 6 committee is modeling a better way to
New Portrait in Oversight Released
Today, the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, with the support of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, released a Portrait
Recent Events
July 21, 2022: Pursuing Factual Consensus: The Role of Congress
Virtual panel discussion
Watch our fascinating discussion with former Senators Bill Cohen, Norm Coleman, and Claire McCaskill on how congressional committees work toward factual consensus in oversight investigations.
For our democratic system to work, our leaders, institutions (both public and private), and citizens need to value facts and truthfulness. In recent years, however, we have witnessed mass disagreements over what is true and how to separate fact from fiction. We’ve also learned the consequences can be deadly. The Levin Center is sponsoring a three-part series of panels to delve more deeply into how facts become established in the public mind and how truthfulness might be restored to our public discourse.
Our second panel featured three former senators with years of oversight expertise. They discussed the unique role played by Congress in resolving factual issues confronting the country, how committees conduct factual investigations, how committee members attempt to reach consensus on the facts, what happens when they can’t reach consensus, and how investigative hearings and reports affect public perceptions of what is true. They also provide interesting commentary on factfinding by the House committee examining the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
