The Constitution gives the Senate responsibility for approving the nominees of the President to high government offices, including cabinet officials, ambassadors, judges, and top military leaders. Nominations made by the President are forwarded to the Senate committee of jurisdiction. Nomination hearings may feature a single nominee or a group of nominees who discuss their qualifications and answer questions from committee members. Although nomination hearings appear to be distant from Congress’ oversight function, most of them include some discussion of administration policy. Nomination hearings also frequently put the nominees on record regarding how they intend to conduct their missions. Such hearing records serve as benchmarks that are useful to subsequent oversight hearings.