Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings is one of 16 Democrats who signed a letter criticizing the GOP's unilateral power grab on subpoena power.
House Democrats aren't too happy that Republicans have unilaterally decided that GOP committee chairmen can unilaterally decide when to issue subpoenas. Ranking Democrats on 16 committees penned a letter voicing their discontent to all 435 representatives. Jennifer Bendery has
the details on the letter, which read in part:
"This year House Republicans are changing the rules to give some chairmen unfettered authority to issue subpoenas unilaterally, adopting an abusive model embraced only by Senator Joe McCarthy, former Rep. Dan Burton, and Rep. Darrell Issa."
Must be a proud moment for Issa to be just one name removed from the esteemed Joseph McCarthy.
Congressional committees have traditionally had the subpoena power to force witnesses to testify. But before Republicans took this Congress hostage, committee chairs either got the consent of the ranking member from the other party or else held a committee vote on the matter. In the past, only the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee could unilaterally issue subpoenas. Now, that power has been extended to at least seven committee chairs.
Democrats fear the change means Republicans plan to inundate Obama administration officials with requests for information so they can’t get their work done. Many of the chairmen with this new authority have jurisdiction over President Barack Obama's signature issues. Judiciary, for example, has jurisdiction over immigration matters. Energy and Commerce oversees health care reform…
Some committees, however, did not expand the subpoena powers of their chairmen, including the Appropriations, Armed Services, Intelligence and Veterans Affairs committees.