Shouldn't Congress be holding hearings to explore federal and state execution methods?

The question in the title of this post is my reaction to this Wall Street Journal article headlined "Justice Department Expands Review of Death-Penalty Procedures." Here are excerpts, with the key fact prompting my question emphasized:

The Justice Department has launched a review of state-run executions of death-row inmates, after President Barack Obama raised concerns about a botched execution earlier this week in Oklahoma.  A department spokesman said the agency would begin a review of state-run death-penalty programs, similar to one it has been conducting on federal capital punishment. Federal executions are rare, and there has been a moratorium in place since 2011 while the Justice Department reviews its policies. "The department is currently conducting a review of the federal protocol used by the Bureau of Prisons, and has a moratorium in place on federal executions in the meantime," said the spokesman, Brian Fallon. "At the president's direction, the department will expand this review to include a survey of state-level protocols and related policy issues."

Mr. Obama, speaking at a news conference Friday after a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called the seemingly flawed execution "deeply troubling" and said he would discuss with Attorney General Eric Holder this particular case and an analysis of U.S. death penalty practices more broadly.

The Oklahoma execution highlights some of the wider problems with U.S. death-penalty practices, he said. Mr. Obama supports the death penalty, and noted the Oklahoma inmate's "heinous" crime, but he has raised questions about it, including racial bias in the American justice system.

Regular readers know I have long been wondering and worried about how the feds were dealing with lethal injection problems in light of the fact that there are nearly a half-dozen federal death row prisoners who have nearly exhausted their appeals and should be heading soon to the execution chamber.  I surmise from this WSJ story that DOJ has been content to take its sweet time to "review its policies" on lethal injection and thus kick this controversial matter to the next person in the Oval Office.  Now, I fear, this expansion of the DOJ review to include a "survey of state-level protocols and related policy issues" is likely to provide a convenient excuse for this "review" to take another couple of years or longer.

All the national and international attention following the ugly execution in Oklahoma, as well as the President's latest comments on this topic, provide further evidence that execution methods and practices are an important issues that implicate lots of federal interests.  Federal courts, of course, have been the focal point of the constitutional debate over lethal injection now for well over a decade. The US Justice Department, it now seems, is heading toward a more than a half-decade of its own "review" of these matters.  At some point I hope (but do not readily expect) that the Article I branch of our national government will finally decide it ought to get involved with these matters.

Some recent related posts:

• Split Oklahoma Supreme Court stays executions based on drug secrecy concerns
• Oklahoma Supreme Court allows executions to get back on track
• Double execution scheduled for tonight in Oklahoma drawing international interest
• First of two planned Oklahoma executions botched, though condemned dies of heart attack after getting execution drugs
• Ugly Oklahoma execution leading to calls for national moratorium
• Sampling of reactions and commentary in wake of Oklahoma's execution problems
• New details emerge concerning ugly Oklahoma execution
• Other than perhaps in Oklahoma, will this week's ugly execution change any death penalty dynamics?