The issue of White House policy "czars" is heading back to the Hill next week. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee announced today it is holding a hearing Thursday to examine the history of czars in the White House, as well as their policy implications and oversight considerations.

This will be the second Senate hearing this month on the topic.

The hearing, titled, "Presidential Advice and Senate Consent: The Past, Present, and Future of Policy Czars," will feature the following witnesses:
--Tom Ridge, former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Secretary of Homeland Security
--James Pfiffner, public policy professor, George Mason University
--Lee Casey, partner of Baker Hostetler law firm and former Attorney-Advisory Legal Counsel office at DOJ
--Harold Relyea, former Congressional Research Service specialist in American National Government

Obama's czars have been a hot topic of discussion this year, with Republicans criticizing the lack of advise-and-consent usually attached to top presidential appointments. However, some Democrats have joined in the criticism. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, has been outspoken on the topic and held a hearing last week.

Democrats argue that Bush had at least as many czars as Obama, so GOP criticism amounts to the pot calling the kettle black.