Pelosi and Cummings in happier days.
He can't keep his hand off that gavel.
Posted on 03/06/2014 11:15:27 AM PST by jazusamo
VIDEO: 4 minutes - Rep. Marcia Fudge's oral presentation of the privileged resolution on House floor.
The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus is calling House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to be stripped of his gavel for his behavior at a contentious IRS hearing on Wednesday.
Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday that Issa’s conduct in the hearing — which included cutting off the microphone of Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat — amounted to “an affront to the expectations of the American people.” Fudge also said Issa should apologize on the House floor.
“The American people have the right to expect that their elected leaders be held to the highest possible standards of conduct. Congressional committee leaders are held to an even higher standard due to their unique positions,” Fudge wrote in a letter to Boehner.
“Congressman Darrell Issa of California abused his authority and therefore must be reprimanded to ensure the dignity of the House of Representatives is preserved.”
Fudge’s letter comes in the wake of a memorable House Oversight hearing with Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the agency’s targeting controversy. While the Oversight Committee is no stranger to conflict, the hearing turned rowdy even by the committee’s usual standards.
Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment rights before the panel, as she had at a May 2013 hearing.
After Issa had adjourned the hearing, Cummings tried to make a statement, at which point Issa cut off his microphone. Democrats yelled “Shame!”
Cummings loudly criticized Issa’s handling of the IRS investigation without the microphone, calling it one-sided and “un-American.”
“I am a member of the United States Congress of America! I am tired of this!” he yelled.
Boehner stood by Issa on Thursday, saying he was “within his rights to adjourn the hearing.”
The Speaker faced repeated questions from reporters about Issa’s behavior at his weekly Capitol press conference, and offered the oversight chairman a clear if unenthusiastic endorsement when asked if he would bow to Democratic demands to replace him.
“Darrell Issa is the chairman. He’s done an effective job as chairman. I support him,” Boehner said.
Democrats are using the hearing to push the message that Republicans are running the House in a heavy-handed manner.
Dozens of Democrats appeared on the House floor Thursday to demand that the House condemn Issa, a call that Fudge put forward separately in a privileged resolution.
"Chairman Issa's abusive behavior on March 5 is part of a continuing pattern in which he has routinely excluded members of the Committee from investigative meetings, and has routinely provided information to the press before sharing it with Committee members," the resolution reads.
The resolution charges that Issa violated House rules, which say members must "behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."
Issa has suggested that Cummings, the Oversight panel’s top Democrat and a CBC member, is the one who should be apologizing.
The Oversight chairman told reporters that he had already told Cummings that there wouldn’t be opening statements, because Wednesday’s hearing was technically a continuation of Lerner’s earlier appearance.
Issa also said that Cummings has gone to great lengths to impede the committee’s oversight efforts.
— Pete Kasperowicz, Russell Berman and Mike Lillis contributed.
Pelosi and Cummings in happier days.
He can't keep his hand off that gavel.
Ignorent..... Lerner taking the 5th is the affront to American people!
‘highest possible standards of conduct.’
This pretty much leaves out the democrats...
Oh, the irony. Democrats can't spell the word.
Money quote from story: "On Tuesday, the committee's Democrats let the Republicans know that their keys wouldn't work in the hearing room anymore. They'd had the locks changed."
I would not be surprised if Cummings had orders from the WH to divert the media's attention away from WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED AT THE HEARING.
This was a "What difference does it make" moment where a person SHOUTS and everyone forgets what happened prior to that.
DO A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR "IRS hearing" and nearly all the results are as follows:
"Cummings clash.."
"Issa Walks out.."
"IRS hearing explodes"
"Elijah Gets Cut Off.."
"Issa: Rep. Cummings 'Was Slandering Me' During.."
"U.S. House hearing on IRS scandal dissolves in shouting.."
IT'S PRETTY OBVIOUS WHY CUMMINGS DID WHAT HE DID. HE LEARNED FROM HILLARY'S "WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE" OUTBURST AND HOW WELL THE MEDIA LATCHES ONTO DIVERSIONS!!!
Even Ray Charles could see this coming!
Instead, we get vows never to do it if Republicans are in charge.
-PJ
I’m not fond of Issa, but if he goes, so should reid.
Evertything the RAT party does is for show. These incidents are planned and staged to incite a response and then the RATS scream about it and act offended.
PS. when is someone going to scream shame at Harry Reid for specifically bashing the Koch brothers and calling them UnAmerican?
LOL! Elijah fondles that gavel knowing it’ll never be his.
Those pics are classics and I especially like the one showing the purse that Hoyer’s carrying.
Laughing and crying...about that statement!!
And Lerner taking the 5th is WHAT, Fudge!?!?!?!?!
Yep, it’s a different story when the shoes on the other foot.
The CBC should just hold their hearings in the basement without inviting Republicans like the Dims did with Sandra Fluke.
committee leaders are held to an even higher standard
Higher than the President?
I guess providing they are republican,
god knows what the Dems would do if they were
Tea partiers.
Daryl Issa posted this video from 2008 on his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152018709407993
Conservative Group Accuses Dem Rep. Cummings of Harassment
Cummings should be stripped of his seat in Congress!
Elijah is a pathetic hypocrite but then most Rats are.
Pulling out the race card as usual.
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