Final answer:
Constant congressional vigilance in overseeing the executive bureaucracy is referred to as oversight, enabling Congress to monitor and regulate federal bureaucratic agencies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Constant congressional vigilance in overseeing the executive bureaucracy is known as oversight.
Congress is particularly empowered to apply oversight of the federal bureaucracy because of its power to control funding and approve presidential appointments. The oversight process includes both chambers' committees and subcommittees regularly holding hearings to question the leaders of various bureaucracies. While these hearings are typically practical, fact-finding missions, they can become quite animated and testy if a serious blunder has occurred within a bureaucracy.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is another essential tool for congressional oversight, providing auditing, evaluation, and investigative services to help Congress monitor the bureaucracy's use of the federal budget effectively.