Republicans May Be Sorry For Rigging The Way Congress Works

In Sunday's Spokesman-Review, the most read newspaper in Washington's 5th district, Lisa Brown published an important OpEd, Divided We Fall. "The situation in America today," she began, "with pipe bombs mailed to political figures, the shootings of Representatives Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise, and the killing of journalists, here and abroad, should be a wake-up call for us to protect our democracy. Leaders of all political parties must denounce violence and threats of violence as ways to address political differences, without qualification, without attempting to justify or rationalize, and without pointing fingers at our political opponents."

We should teach our children and remind each other that free speech, free assembly, and voting are how we resolve political differences in America. Doing that can help rebuild trust and bridge the toxic divides that plague our politics today.

All political leaders should reaffirm our support for the free press. President Trump was wrong to call the media the “enemy of the people,” and wrong to speak approvingly of physical violence against a journalist. A “body slam” could be metaphorical, but in this case, it was real, and nothing to joke about or condone.

...I call on leaders in both political parties to take action to set a different tone. This means not only not succumbing to the rhetoric and obvious attempts to divide us, but resolving important issues like health care, immigration, and budgets, in a bipartisan way. The failure of this Congress and of my opponent to make meaningful progress on these issues that are important to Eastern Washington’s families and economy, is the main reason I left my position as WSU chancellor to run for Congress.

...I believe the root of the toxicity in the current political environment is connected to growing income inequality, and associated economic and social insecurity experienced by many Americans. And these trends are unfortunately exacerbated by policies of this Congress... Above all, to improve trust, and bridge these divides, we need to tell the people the truth-- the truth matters and trust is impossible without it.

Lisa is talking about bi-partisan, even non-partisan, norms of our society, norms that are unrecognized by a profoundly ignorant, self-centered illegitimate "president," who has trampled on them and dragged the rest of his party along for the ride. That ride is likely to get very bumpy very soon. And I don't just mean, bad election results a week from tomorrow. "A GOP rule change," wrote Anthony Adragna for Politico Sunday, "handed unilateral subpoena authority to many House committee chairmen. Democrats cried foul, but now they hope to use it against Trump." Another clear example of the GOP stomping all over the norms. So what happens now? Democrats who are looking forward to investigating the kleptocratic and fascistic Trump Regime will have the Republicans to thank "for one of their most potent tools-- a sweeping subpoena authority that Democratic lawmakers denounced as an abusive power grab three years ago." The shoe is about to change feet-- on 14 of the 21 standing committees where the GOP rules allow chairmen to issue subpoenas without any bipartisan cooperation. When the Republicans were passing the new rules, some of them worried that giving committee chairmen subpoena power would eventually come back to haunt them. It's about to.

House Republicans changed the rules in 2015 to allow many of their committee chairmen to issue subpoenas without consulting the minority party, overriding Democrats objections that likened the tactic to something out of the McCarthy era.

Now the weapon that the GOP wielded dozens of times against Barack Obama’s agencies could allow Democrats to bombard President Donald Trump’s most controversial appointees with demands for information. And many Democrats are itching to use it.

“The Republicans have set the standard and, by God, we’re going to emulate that standard,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told Politico.

Oversight would be one of the few concrete goals that Democrats could accomplish with control of only one chamber of Congress and Trump still in the White House. They have a long list of potential targets, including likely demands for Trump's tax returns and probes into Cabinet members such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Before the 2015 rule change, most House subpoenas needed at least some bipartisan cover, requiring a majority vote of committee members and consultation with a panel’s ranking member. The change erased those requirements and allowed the chairmen to proceed unilaterally, although the exact rules vary by committee.

Many Democrats argue that Republicans only have themselves to blame for weaponizing the subpoena process, and that their own party should not unilaterally disarm now that the power has been unleashed.

“What goes around comes around,” said former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). “Would I expect them to give up the unilateral subpoena power by chairman? No. And I don’t think they should.”

That’s not the uniform viewpoint of everyone in the party. Rep. Bill Foster (New Dem-IL) led a group of 38 Democrats in an October 2016 letter urging GOP leaders to abandon the power during the next Congress. He told Politico he still thinks chairmen should not have it.

“I would continue to oppose unilateral subpoena power,” Foster said in a statement. “During my time in Congress, I have seen the majority party use this power to compel individuals to testify who differ from the committee chairs on policy matters. Committees should be expected to hold a vote on a subpoena to determine if the committee issues a subpoena.”

Most House Democrats think Foster is a pompous, self-serving, spoiled asshole and don't pay any attention to his constant whining. Two of the biggest abusers of the subpoena power were House Financial Services chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and House Science chair Lamar Smith, bother of whom saw what was coming and announced their retirements. Devin Nunes, the poster child for the abuses, will-- if he gets reelected-- be the poster boy for the retribution.