Over one dozen Republican lawmakers have threatened to boycott the “unsanctioned quasi-hearings” occurring in the House Oversight and Rules Committee, the Houses’ powerful investigative body that can oversee the federal government.
According to Fox News, which obtained a copy of the letter sent to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the lawmakers contend that remote briefings have been marred with procedural violations and technical issues, and call upon the committee to begin meeting in-person, as the current situation remains “unworkable” on a day-to-day basis.
“Rather than continue a pattern of unfair remote proceedings that inhibit the Minority and confuse the American People, we urge you to bring the Committee back to regular order. Barring this approach, we urge you to acknowledge that the Speaker has declared the House to be in a ‘covered period,’ pursuant to H. Res. 965, and follow Chairman McGovern’s procedural expectations,” reads the letter, which refers to the procedural expectations established by the House Rules Committee.
“You must abandon these quasi-hearings and move the Committee into compliance with the McGovern guidelines. There is a playbook — albeit a murky one — that we must follow at this point,” the letter continues, and later adds: “If you will not stop the weekly fake hearings and move toward the framework laid out in H. Res. 965 and the accompanying McGovern guidelines, the Republican Members will be forced to consider abstaining from these violative proceedings.”
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