CUMMINGS VIOLATES BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT TO ISSUE POLITICAL SUBPOENA TO WHITE HOUSE IN DEMOCRATS’ SO-CALLED IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

All Oversight Republicans ask Cummings to hold public business meeting to consider proposed subpoena

WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, all Republican members of the Committee on Oversight and Reform sent a letter to Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) requesting that he convene a business meeting to allow Members to debate and vote on the Chairman’s proposed subpoena to the White House as part of the House Democrats’ Impeachment Inquiry.

At the Committee organizational meeting in January, Chairman Cummings promised that he would consult the Ranking Member before issuing subpoenas. Chairman Cummings promised that “Members deserve the opportunity to go on the record for some of the most important work they will do, and the public deserves the opportunity to see them do that work in the open.” By proposing to issue his subpoena unilaterally without a business meeting, the Chairman is denying transparency and accountability about the Committee’s work.
 
Excerpts from the letter:

“You decided to issue this subpoena without consulting Republicans and without allowing Members to debate the terms of the subpoena. Your memorandum cherry-picks and misstates information to propagate a misleading narrative about the President’s actions. We object strongly to the issuance of this subpoena and your stated reasons for issuing it. If you proceed with this subpoena over our objections, you will be violating our bipartisan agreement about subpoenas, trampling on long-held minority rights in the House of Representatives, and proving the partisan nature of your inquiry.”

“Here, on the Committee’s most important work-Democrats’ self-described “impeachment inquiry”-you have chosen to deny Members a meaningful opportunity to debate and amend your proposed subpoena.”

Full text of the letter can be found here.