How Is House Republicans Create Panel To Investigate Government? Following months of Republican discussion about their plans to hold President Joe Biden and individuals in his circle accountable, a probe panel has been established.
Tuesday, House Republicans utilized their newly acquired majority to create the framework for some anticipated probes of the Biden administration by voting in unison to create a panel to investigate the alleged “weaponization of the federal government.”
The establishment of the subcommittee, which will be a part of the House Judiciary Committee and be chaired by Ohio’s Rep. Jim Jordan, comes after months of Republican talk about their intentions to hold President Joe Biden and those close to him accountable while exerting their limited control over the House to lead numerous investigations and potential impeachment inquiries.
The panel is responsible for investigating whether the executive branch has engaged in “illegal or unlawful, unconstitutional, or unethical conduct” against the American people, as well as the branch’s jurisdiction “to gather information on or otherwise probe individuals of the United States.”
However, it seems to have a broad reach, providing the panel the opportunity to look into government acts that House Republicans find objectionable and to utilize their newly acquired subpoena power to obtain information on ongoing investigations.
How Is House Republicans Create Panel To Investigate Government?
On Tuesday, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma introduced a resolution to create the committee, claiming that the federal government had “abused its authority and violated the civil liberties of American citizens.”
He cited the federal government’s role in “suppressing information” on Twitter, the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to establish a disinformation governance board, and the debunked myth that the Justice Department had labeled some parents at school.
Indeed, House Republicans have been fervently promoting the slew of inquiries they have promised to launch for months.
These inquiries include the business dealings of the president’s son Hunter Biden, the origin of COVID-19, the disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, and some questions about recent actions by the Justice Department and the FBI, including those involving the former president Donald Trump. But it’s still unclear what topics the new subcommittee will focus on.
Democrats criticized the panel swiftly on Tuesday, branding it a “monstrosity” that will “further empower radicals,” a “terrible concept,” and other terms like “destroy democracy” and “insurrection protection.” The committee is “an assurance that we’re going to see these very partisan, political MAGA-driven investigations go forward,” Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern said.
With this move, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is “basically handing Mr. Jordan the power to target anyone and anything he doesn’t like,” McGovern claimed Tuesday. “This committee is nothing more than a deranged ploy by the MAGA extremists who have hijacked the Republican Party and now want to use taxpayer money to push their far-right conspiracy nonsense.”
Although the panel composition has not yet been determined, Jordan, who was a prominent supporter of Trump during his impeachment proceedings and has grown to be McCarthy’s close buddy, is anticipated to serve as its chair.
When Did Jordan Refer To The Panel As Protecting The Constitutional Rights Of Americans?
Jordan declared, “This is about the First Amendment,” asserting that each of the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment has been “attacked” by the federal government. The committee’s mission statement reads, “We want to respect the First Amendment to the Constitution that the greatest country in the world has.”
The subcommittee, according to Democrats, is the product of the deadlock in last week’s speaker vote, which gave a group of far-right opponents substantial authority to exercise in the new House Republican majority in exchange for their support or their neutrality.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York said of the hard-line conservatives’ influence on the conference, “Today, we have the first of their many demands on display. An open-ended investigation into whatever conspiracy theories may be dominating the right-wing echo chamber with unchecked authority to undermine ongoing criminal and intelligence investigations.”
Democrats further asserted on Tuesday that Republicans would attempt to use the panel to halt ongoing investigations into their own “wrongdoings,” perhaps in a nod to Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry, who has expressed interest in joining the committee despite being a target of the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation into the uprising at the Capitol in early 2021.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, a now-defunct Jan. 6 committee member, said the panel is intended to “undermine the legitimate investigation of President Trump’s incitement of a violent attack” on the Capitol. Rep. Dan Goldman of New York claimed the panel’s primary goal is “to interfere with the special council’s ongoing investigation into the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.”
The action on Tuesday came after the Republicans swiftly moved to their first legislative priority of the year – voting to cut funding for the Internal Revenue Service – after the Republicans approved a rules package in the House on Monday evening in a nearly party-line vote with little fanfare compared to the days-long effort to elect a speaker that plagued the chamber just last week.
During the next two years of a divided government, Republicans are anticipated to pursue some bills, many of which are intended to undermine the programs of the Biden administration, many of which have dismal chances in the upper chamber.
On Tuesday, McGovern said that the MAGA Republicans‘ only goal was to establish a platform for settling scores and spreading conspiracies. They have no interest in holding office.