MAYBE THERE’S YET HOPE FOR THE ‘FIRST BRANCH:’ Congress was intended by the Founders to be the center of the federal government. They gave it all the “ultimate weapons” in the Constitution in any showdown with either of the other two branches.

But for decades, Congress under majorities of both political parties has given away its authority and delegated prerogatives to the unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy. Along the way, the idea of congressional oversight became little more than grandstanding for the cameras.

Now perhaps there is hope for a revival. It’s got to start somewhere, so why not with “the investigative arm of Congress,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO).