The new 118th Congress won’t officially start for another week, but the bickering between the Biden administration and House Republicans who have vowed to examine it has already begun. The White House informed two incoming committee chairs on Thursday morning that they would have to begin their oversight requests anew when the new Congress convenes on Tuesday.
“According to Politico, White House oversight lawyer Richard Sauber wrote that Congress has not transferred [oversight] authority to individual members of Congress who are not committee chairmen and the House has not done so under its current Rules.
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The incoming chairs of the oversight and judiciary committees, Republicans James Comer (KY) and Jim Jordan (OH), are furious about the decision and have sent many requests for records over the past few weeks. Both gentlemen promised to swiftly resubmit their petitions.
“President Biden vowed to create the most transparent administration in history, but the Biden White House strives to hinder congressional scrutiny at every opportunity and keep information from the American people,” “Said tweeter was Comer. To strengthen his argument, he appeared on Fox News on a Thursday night.
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the likely next speaker of the House, weighed in as well, saying, “In 5 days, a new Republican majority will have the authority and obligation to find answers for the American people.”
The Biden camp defends its actions by saying they are similar to those taken by the Trump administration in 2018 in response to the election of a Democratic majority in the House. At the time, Democrats criticized the move, but they’ve been largely silent since. Meanwhile, Jordan is in charge of investigations after resisting a subpoena request from the committee on January 6.
Once Congress is back in session, as promised by Sauber in his letter, the Biden administration would act on requests.
We commit to reviewing and responding in good faith to any requests from the Committee in the 118th Congress, whether they are similar to or different from those made in the previous Congress “Document penned by Sauber. “We have hope that the incoming Congress will approach its oversight duties with the same level of seriousness.
Possible part of President Joe Biden’s plan to frustrate and divide Republicans before they take over the House of Representatives. Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, has complained that all the attention being paid to probes is taking away from the Republicans’ ability to rule.
Republican candidates for Congress promised during the campaign that they would work to reduce prices. They’ve been pretty clear over the past few months that they want to make that a priority,” she recently told reporters. As an alternative, “what they are doing is they are focusing… they are making their top priority, they win the majority, and their top priority is actually not focusing on the American families but focusing on the president’s family.”
This line of argument on Hunter Biden and other inquiry issues might become a more significant element of the White House’s rhetoric as it prepares to push back against Republican scrutiny on a variety of fronts.
Often, the reactions to the actions of either side are colored by the viewpoints of the many parties involved.
John Feehery, a Republican strategist, has said that Biden’s action demonstrates a disregard for Congress’s constitutionally mandated role as watchdog.
That the president and his team “have little respect for the incoming congressional majority” and “reveals that their aim will be to impede and delay any genuine congressional inquiries” is clear, he said.
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To the contrary, Democratic strategist Tom Cochran compared the letters to a cunning political maneuver.
Cochran, a partner at 720 Strategies, said, “I don’t see this as bad faith.” “The White House isn’t going to help the incoming Republican leadership demonstrate authoritative supervision until they actually take charge. We are dealing with a formality of procedure and a game of political chess.”
House Republicans have been promising for months to launch an investigation into a variety of allegations against Vice President Joe Biden, including his handling of the porous southern border, his energy policies, the Afghanistan withdrawal, the source of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the alleged influence peddling of his family. They will finally have their chance starting next week.
