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.
Boehner said “Uh no” Sucks to be Elijah. :-)
How about the steady stream of BLACK councilmen, state senators, etc. that I keep seeing up on corruption charges here in NY?
FU CBC.
Cummings should be expelled from the committee and from the House.
The CBC should be condemned as the racist organization that is, and its remaining members given the choice of repudiating it or being expelled from the House.
Nice job by Issa in handling something that should never happen in the first place.
Thanks jazusamo.
Cummings wasn't 'fighting' - he was being rude and out of order. The LAST thing we need to do is become like democrats...
We can't be afraid of using minority powers in committees.
We can't be afraid of the spectacle, because of what others might say about it.
We can't be afraid of hurling the charge, just because we can't prove it.
Notice that the coverage is not about Lerner, it's about Cummings and Issa. That's what Cummings wanted when he made his outburst. Even if he didn't get to say what he wanted, he wanted to keep the story from being about Lerner -- and he succeeded.
That's what Republicans have to be unafraid to do. Use arrogance and spectacle to control the narrative.
Issa could have trumped Cummings by calling for the Sergeant At Arms to hold Lerner, right then and there. That would have been spectacle that controlled the media story.
If the roles were reversed, Cummings would have done it reflexively. Republicans would have anguished over it for days and weeks.
-PJ
People forget Pelosi did the same thing when she had the gavel. She shut the lights off while Pubbies were still talking.
Look, that's because the press is on the side of Democrats. They knew what the real story was - and they chose not to cover it.
Cummings having a race card fit is such tired old news it's amazing the MSM could use it... but never doubt how much the press needs the excuse of racism to provide cover for their bias.
OK, I’ll censure Issa if the CBC renounces communism and their love of Castro’s Cuba.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
You know, gazing at the photo once again, you’d think Pelosi would have her Big O’s in private.
Funny thing .. I’ve watched a lot of Issa’s committee hearings .. and the one thing I’ve noticed it Mr. Cummings continual negative, rude, disrespectful, overbearing attitude toward Issa; while Issa tries to be respectful to Cummings.
My personal opinion .. Mr. Cummings got EVERYTHING THAT WAS COMING TO HIM - AFTER YEARS OF HIS TANTRUMS - AND SINCE ALL CUMMINGS HAD TO SAY WAS NOTHING MORE THAN DERROGATORY COMMENTS ABOUT THE COMMITTEE.
SADLY, I HEARD ON THE NEWS THAT ISSA HAD CALLED CUMMINGS AND APOLOGIZED!!!
WELL .. THEN I DEMAND AN APOLOGY FROM MS. PELOSI FOR TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS ON THE REPUBS. Oh yeah, she’s white .. I guess that doesn’t matter then ......
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