WASHINGTON — The top Democrats on 16 House committees sent a letter to all members on Tuesday condemning Republicans’ recent push to expand the power of committee chairmen to unilaterally issue subpoenas without any debate or vote.
“For decades, responsible committee chairmen — both Democratic and Republican — recognized that the coercive power of subpoenas should be used only as a last resort, and they obtained the concurrence of the ranking member or called a committee vote before issuing subpoenas,” reads the letter, which cites the handful of past chairmen who have ever used such authority. “This year House Republicans are changing the rules to give some chairmen unfettered authority to issue subpoenas unilaterally, adopting an abusive model embraced only by Senator Joe McCarthy, former Rep. Dan Burton, and Rep. Darrell Issa.”
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“This is an invitation to abuse that diminishes the prospect for responsible congressional oversight,” wrote Waxman. “Unfortunately, this ill-fated move has received virtually no attention.”
