Where does it say Congress has unlimited subpoena power? My understanding is it can only be used as part of an ongoing investigation or in writing legislation.
-- Where does it say Congress has unlimited subpoena power? My understanding is it can only be used as part of an ongoing investigation or in writing legislation. --
As far as I know, Congress has no legitimate investigative power, unless the investigation is tethered to legislation.
I'm not sure where you get "unlimited" from "inherent."
The power of a legislative body to compel testimony for legislative purposes is a "common law" principle, generally meaning it is rooted in judge-made law that traces back through this country's British roots. SCOTUS has recognized the subpoena and contempt powers of Congress. I could dig up a cite or two, but I think you're better off looking for yourself if the below isn't enough.
CRS RL34097 - Congressional Contempt Power
Bottom third of page 2 (page 6 of the pdf) is an excerpt of SCTOUS case.
The general problem we have with the federal government is that all the branches and administrative agencies abuse their power in many ways, and they back each other up in the shared corrupt endeavor.