House GOP Moves to Messaging Bills and Investigations

Plus, a new select committee on strategic competition with China.

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House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise speaks alongside Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, Rep. Michael Cloud, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Adrian Smith during a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Good afternoon. The House has a speaker and a set of rules—ordinarily a formality at the start of each Congress, but for this closely divided chamber, a bit of a saga. Now, Republicans are moving to items they largely agree on: messaging bills and investigations.

Two New Select Committees

Republicans itching for reprisals in the wake of last year’s FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida property may soon have a dedicated select committee for the task.

Members will vote today on forming a select committee with a broad mandate to investigate the federal government and empowered to dig into ongoing criminal investigations. This was a key demand among House Freedom Caucus members who initially opposed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the gavel.

The subcommittee will be organized underneath the House Judiciary Committee, which is set to be chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Its purpose has been likened to the Church Committee named after Sen. Frank Church, which investigated intelligence community activities in the 1970s. It’s not yet clear who the new panel’s Republican members will be, nor which Democrats will participate. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Rjosephpaquette

    Since literally half of Americans don’t pay income tax, defunding the IRS makes sense financially. Start a VAT with a prebate to every American to protect those with lower income.

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    Pat Riot

    A few cycles ago Republicans figured out an awesome way to tell a lie in a way that would amplify the lie and force the media to cover it, and force their entire media flock to believe it: pass an obviously-doomed bill in Congress.

    Republicans famously repealed Obamacare 67 times in the House. Each one of those times bolstered the lie that Republicans were going to repeal Obamacare because they had something better (which they didn't).

    Hence when 2016 came around, the #1 policy objective for the Republicans was to repeal the ACA, and one can argue that lie was largely responsible for their victory in that cycle.

    (After that, Republicans gave up on policy and switched exclusively to owning the libs, but the methodology still lives on).

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      Peter S.

      I must correct you on one point. The policy objective was not to repeal the ACA, which some of their constituents depend on. It was to repeal Obamacare, which those same constituents apparently did not realize was the same thing.

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        Pat Riot

        LOL, yeah...

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  3. Stormer93

    And when Democrats take control of the House, they can use the committee on "Weaponization of the Federal Government" to investigate the Durham Investigation and all the commitees looking into COVID overreach... I really don't think these reps have any thought on how these idiotic ideas can be turned around against them.

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      Pat Riot

      LOL they are investigating the Durham investigation. That's awesome!

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    2. DavidWG

      Durham has never written his report. Is he just going to bag it and testify to Jordan's committee instead?

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    3. Nordic_man

      Who cares? Do you think the idiots in the "governing means being on TV" actually care about keeping their job, or having it all be turned back on them? The secret is they don't want power. Power means making descisions, doing things where you could be...wrong. They will jump ship to some media platform before the powers that be turn the knife back on them because they aren't in it for legislative power. They are in it for vanity and popularity.

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  4. CB76

    They're also voting on a bill to abolish the IRS and institute a national consumption tax:

    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/house-republicans-to-vote-on-bill-to-abolish-irs/

    Sure didn't take long for the circus to roll into town, did it?

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    Normb1442

    The vote on IRS funding is IDENTICAL to the demands of various far left groups, in that it would defund the police. The only difference is the far left's demands would enable guys stealing a load of bread while the GOP is solicitous of those who steal millions via tax cheating. The other difference, of course, is that while virtually no Democratic legislators have actually voted to defund the police (and most denounced the idea), the GOP vote was unanimous.

    The IRS is a law enforcement agency, just like your local police are. The only reasonable conclusion one can draw from this vote is that the Republican Party believes taxes should be paid only voluntarily. Except, of course, by working stiffs who have their taxes taken directly from their paychecks by their employers.

    Say this for the GOP -- it delivers for its masters.

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      Kmregan7

      Well, there's also the "make government look incompetent and unable to perform the duties it's supposed to perform." If you defund the IRS and make tax return processing slower, that annoys people. And then Republicans, who voted for defunding the IRS, can say "see?! Government is horrible. They can't even process returns in a timely manner."

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      Stephanie

      In the reporting on this bill (which will never be enacted) it’s mentioned that it would contribute significantly to the budget deficit—by billions of dollars.

      This is fiscal conservatism? These are the “balanced budget” zealots?

      It doesn’t make sense.

      Even as a “messaging” bill.

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        Normb1442

        It makes perfect sense if the goal is to reduce taxes on the wealthy, who report their incom
        as opposed to have it withheld as they earn it, to the minimum possible.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Magpie

    “Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” is a ridiculous name for a congressional committee, and Jim Jordan is a clown. I know that there will be real committees doing real work, but this one is going to get all the press. Groan.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Dave K

    Barnum and Bailey return as the GOP begins its reign in the House...

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  8. Brook

    Informative. Much I did not know. Thanks, Haley.

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    George.Skinner

    It's going to be interesting to see how the committee on "weaponization of the federal government" proceeds. I think we can exclude the case where they do an effective investigation and conclude that it's an overblown and unsubstantiated concern. Much more likely is that they drag out the investigation in order to showboat and generate fodder for hits on right wing cable shows. The question then is are they capable enough to keep the churn going with self-sustaining intrigue, do they fizzle out because there's just not enough to investigate and people get bored, or are they so incompetent that the whole thing collapses shortly after launch?

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      Stephanie

      There will be competing narratives as the right wing media and Carlson deliberately twist the facts while the legitimate media reports accurately.

      Legal Twitter will be exposing fallacies while the MAGA crowd tries to weaponize the hearings to put pressure on the DOJ to give up on Trump indictments.

      If they’re lucky they’ll restore his standing as the top candidate for 2024.

      If they’re unlucky, they’ll just convince more voters that Trump is damaged goods and too controversial to be in office again.

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      Dave K

      My guess is they will take otherwise benign facts and try to paint them into something they are not for cable news sound bites. It will be interesting to see how those being investigated get to investigate those investigating them. Only in government could such utter nonsense exist.

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  10. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Gallagher may be a rare exception. If he actually "governs".

    The rest of the performances by the GOP clowns are appropriately renamed by me as

    "Grieverance".

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