"Please state your name for the record," the chairman of the oversight committee requested.
"Rebecca Costa-Brown," Rebecca answered. "Chief Director of the PRT."
"Thank you, Chief Director," the chief replied, checking his notes. "First to speak will be Senator Ambruster."
The Senator leaned forwards, to his microphone, and cleared his throat.
"What exactly do you think you've been doing, Chief Director?" he said.
"...my job, Senator," Rebecca replied. "The Parahuman Response Teams-"
"The Parahuman Response Teams were, in my opinion, a mistake," Ambruster replied, cutting over her. "Chairman, may I use some of my time to lay out background?"
"Indeed, Senator," the chairman replied. "It will however be considered to use up part of your time, as usual."
"As expected," Ambruster said. "The Parahuman Response Teams are an unprecedented, and – I would argue – unconstitutional extension of the authority of the Federal government into affairs of local law and order, which should more properly be left to the States and municipalities in question."
He thumped his fist on the desk. "I was at that debate. So were many of the other members of this committee. We were told that the situation with the parahuman gangs in many of our cities was uncontrollable, and that it required specialists to handle arresting parahumans and their gang members. Federal law enforcement acting without oversight beyond that provided by this committee. And what has the result been?"
"This isn't a stump speech, Senator," Rebecca said. "Please, get to the point."
"The point, Chief Director, is that the Parahuman Response Teams have not been achieving anything that justifies the overreach," Ambruster said. "Gang crime – parahuman gang crime, the PRT's jurisdiction – has been on the rise constantly, and so has property damage. Known criminals walk free after detention periods measured in days, whole regions of some cities are no-go areas if you're the wrong race or if you don't pay the right people… it's a shambles."
Rebecca looked back.
"Can I respond?" she asked. "Senator, the fact that I have a difficult job means that you can't expect miracles. There is a crisis involving gangs with parahuman leadership in the United States, and effectively all organized crime is now part of the PRT's jurisdiction. This is a task of enormous scale."
"Quote," Senator Ambruster replied. "We don't plan to arrest them, because another gang would just move in. Unquote."
He leaned forwards. "That's one of your directors, Chief Director. In Boston, specifically. Recording was sent to me two weeks ago, by an anonymous source… and if that's policy in Boston, it leads me to question whether it's policy anywhere else."
Rebecca frowned. "You can't expect to base decisions about a federal agency on a local director's comments."
"I can expect to make basic inferences from what your agency has been doing, Chief Director," Ambruster replied. "Or, more correctly, not doing. It seems to me that your turf wars with local police over the extent of your jurisdiction are the main focus of your time and attention – not taking gang members off the streets."
He slammed a fist on the desk in front of him. "Even the largest parahuman gangs number barely a dozen powered members. It's their street-level muscle that's choking the life out of great American cities. And that street-level muscle, Chief Director, is something you seem singularly unwilling to go up against! And, worse, since your policies are Federal, that means that there's nowhere we can point to where things are working, no models to spread out nationwide."
Ambruster folded his arms. "You seem to be taking the existence of your agency as a given, Chief Director. I suggest you do otherwise. Start convincing me – convincing us – why your agency needs to exist. Or it won't any more."
"How did the hearing go?" Doctor Mother asked.
"Badly," Rebecca answered, rubbing her temples and sitting down. "We're caught between Posse Comitatus on one side and the effectiveness question on the other… and the smoking ruins of New York, of course…"
She groaned. "I should have realized. Being a pet project of the President doesn't help when the President changes."
AN:
Broad cross-party support for something that is clearly not working is not necessarily guaranteed, especially if it's not old enough to be an institution.