Senate Oversight Committee
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Historical and alternative names: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, Senate Committee on Post Office and Postal Roads, Senate Committee on Post Office and Postal Roads/Post Office and Civil Service, Senate Committee on Retrenchment, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Committee on Government Operations, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Established on October 9, 2004, this committee succeeded the Senate Committees on the District of Columbia (1816); Post Office and Civil Service (1816); Retrenchment (1842); Expenditures in the Executive Departments (1921); Government Operations (1952); and Governmental Affairs (1978). The current Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is the chief oversight committee of the Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and accounting measures other than appropriations, the Census, the federal civil service, the affairs of the District of Columbia and the United States Postal Service. For a more exact definition of this committee's authority, see Rule XXV, Clause 1(k)(1) of the Senate Manual.