How can congress exert control the executive branch

Congress can influence or exert control of the Executive branch in a number of ways.

The most important is that Congress sets the legislative agenda, so in a way, Congress gets to set the tempo for what is covered.

Congress, via the Senate, also has the ability to approve or reject Executive branch nominees.

Finally, the House has the ability to subpoena and investigate the executive branch to ensure that they are doing everything correctly.

populist movement, in u.s. history, politically oriented coalition of agrarian reformers in the middle west and south that advocated a wide range of economic and political legislation in the late 19th century. thus in 1892 their leaders organized the populist, or people's, party, and the farmers' alliances melted away.