cancel2 2022 (04-01-2020), Earl (04-02-2020)
Members banned from this thread: Micawber |
cancel2 2022 (04-01-2020), Earl (04-02-2020)
cancel2 2022 (04-02-2020), Earl (04-02-2020)
Pelosi's coronavirus investigation idea good in theory, but could devolve into partisan sham
Last week, President Trump signed into the law the largest economic relief package in U.S. history. The $2 trillion bill was the legislative equivalent of shock therapy to a country reeling from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed thousands and largely shut down the economy. It includes direct $1,200 payments to many citizens, $150 billion for our ailing hospital system, $500 billion in loans to businesses, cities, and states struggling to keep their heads above water, and a $250 billion increase in unemployment benefits.
That’s a lot of taxpayer money.
And with money comes responsibility, which is why independent oversight of how the cash is allocated, managed, and spent is more than appropriate. On April 2, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formation of a special committee to do precisely that.
Chaired by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the committee will have full power to access the Trump administration’s records (assuming, of course, the administration cooperates) and subpoena power to haul in witnesses, compel documents, and compel testimony. As Pelosi told reporters, "It's no use having a committee unless you have subpoena power.”
True enough. An oversight committee without subpoena power is a paper tiger, a useless bureaucratic exercise that is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. Yet one can say the same thing about an oversight committee dominated by partisanship and political grandstanding. Pelosi’s announcement of a committee is one thing — how the committee operates is something else entirely.
We all know how this goes. The script is sadly familiar, and entirely predictable: A special congressional investigation forms promising the truth and nothing but the truth. Lawmakers serving on the panel release statements chock-full of mealy-mouthed words pledging bipartisanship and consensus. Republican and Democratic members spend the first business meeting patting each other on the back and singing from the same song sheet in sweet harmony.
And then, sure enough, all hell breaks loose. Before too long, the endeavor sinks into the sharp claws of politicization. The same lawmakers who promoted themselves as serious investigators days earlier transform into rabid zookeepers throwing red meat to their base.
Negotiations over subpoenas become fights over who is noble and cooperative and who is childish and devious. The pursuit of unaltered facts deteriorates into a battle to the death over the public narrative. When the work is finished, the country is left to read a highly biased report designed more to damage the other party than discover the truth.
We all witnessed these kinds of shenanigans during the two-year Benghazi investigation and most recently during the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment investigation. The public isn’t stupid: voters know a partisan sham congressional investigation when they see one.
Assuming the House approves Pelosi’s proposal, the special congressional committee on the coronavirus issue cannot succumb to the dark depths of partisanship. The gravity of our current crisis demands more. Pelosi’s proposal for a coronavirus investigative committee is indeed a good idea in the abstract — but it will only make things worse if it devolves into yet another partisan spectacle.
SEDITION: incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.
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