The public would not know much about these scandals, or the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare, without Issa’s efforts. The reason we know that only six people signed up on ObamaCare’s first day is that House Oversight came into possession of internal Administration notes. Most of the details about the botched design of the Healthcare.gov website, and the so-called “tech surge” intended to fix it, have emerged from Oversight committee hearings and document requests. Issa and his colleagues are the only people in government who seem interested in scrutinizing the hugely expensive “navigator” program of ObamaCare consumer assistants. And while the Administration touts the radical expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act as a huge success, the House Oversight Committee conducted an investigation into the New York program – the largest in the country – that led to a $1.2 billion crackdown on overpayments by the Department of Heath and Human Services.

In addition to his oversight duties, Rep. Issa has also been trying to reform the U.S. Postal Service, another effort that has often ended with Democrats huffing that they don’t want to talk about it. Postal reform might not seem like the most cutting-edge topic with a hurricane of emails blowing through our lives, but that’s exactly why it’s important – the USPS still provides an important service, but its policies are a strange relic of a bygone era when communication occurred largely on printed paper, delivered by hand to the front doors of every house. Its business model has never been adjusted to reflect Information Age realities. It operates under rules unlike any other government agency or private business. A huge amount of taxpayer money, and a large number of jobs, are at stake.