The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday threatened to withhold the salaries of Interior, Commerce, and Justice Department officials who block lawmakers from interviewing their agencies’ employees.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., sent lettersseeking transcribed interviews with eight current and former officials as part of two ongoing House investigations. The probes relate to the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt’s compliance with federal record-keeping laws.
The letters warned that “any official at the Department who ‘prohibits or prevents’ or ‘attempts or threatens to prohibit or prevent’ any officer or employee of the Federal Government from speaking with the Committee could have his or her salary withheld” pursuant to a clause in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.
According to a press release from the Committee, Tuesday’s letters follow seven out of eight previous requests for interviews that were “denied or have gone unanswered.”
Cummings’ letter to Cole Rojewski, the Interior Department’s director of congressional and legislative affairs, alleges that the agency “does not appear to recognize that Congress is an independent and co-equal branch of government.”
The committee has asked for responses by Friday.
The addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census has been a bone of contention between the two major parties ever since the Commerce Department announced the addition in March 2018, in what it claimed was an effort to better enforce the Voting Rights Act.
Well, what goes around comes around. I guess the sore loser Democrats don’t remember Reid’s tremendous blunder and how they’ve suffered for that ever since.
The addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census has been a bone of contention.
That sentence is misleading Why the citizenship question was removed by the Obama administrations 2010 census should be the investigation.
How long have they used the 10 to 20 million illegal immigrant figure, its more like 30 to 50 million by now.
Its something they dont want actual solid data for.
@kitt: The unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants is of little use if the sanctuary cities and states can’t have them counted and included in their tallies for representation. There are only so many yards to mow; using them to skew representation numbers and vote is what they are to be used for… and used they will be.
Representation in DC, representation in state elections, federal dollars.
Where has all the republican representation gone to?
Does the Cummings committee even have the power to withhold paychecks from members of the Executive Branch?
Or is this an empty threat?
Dems are still burning over President Trump preventing the Pelosi group’s gov’t trip to the Middle East.
Let her drink her hard liquor on her own dime!
@Nan G:
As it is a violation of federal law to withhold wages from someone who earned them, I would say “No” is the answer to your question.
@retire05: Took a bitof digging but Under section 713 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012, HUD’s appropriation was not available to pay the salary of a federal officer or employee who prevents another federal officer or employee from communicating directly with any member, committee, or subcommittee of Congress.[1] Therefore, HUD’s appropriation was not available to pay the salaries of the General Deputy Assistant Secretary and the Associate General Counsel while they prevented or attempted to prevent the Regional Director from being interviewed by the committees. HUD should consider these salary payments improper and seek to recover the payments as required by 31 U.S.C. § 3711.
It has been used before.
@Nan G:
cummings committee does not have the power to withhold paychecks from members of the Executive Branch. demorats blowing smoke again. so when is cummings going to do some real work??
@Nan G:
Democrats have lied profusely about Trump colluding with Russians, supported illegal surveillance on an opposition Presidential campaign, concocted evidence with which to justify an investigation of false allegations and Nadler just pushed a vote to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt for refusing to violate the law. Since when do laws or the Constitution mean anything to Democrats?
Since they’re now working for Donald Trump rather than the American people, maybe Trump should be paying their salaries. Come to think, why should the taxpayers be picking up the tab for his golfing excursions to Trump-owned golf clubs?
Trump’s Trips To Mar-a-Lago Cost Taxpayers $3.4 Million Each
Remember how the right ranted about Obama’s golf?
Trump Golf Count, with running taxpayer costs. (Make a guess before you click, and see how close you come.)
@Greg:
Unlike the Democrats, Trump works for the People. Thus, those working for him are working for the People. Opposing the Democrats purposely creating one crisis after another to try distract from being unable to govern is working for the People.
You put Trump in office by demanding that the lying, incompetent, criminal Hillary be the Democrat’s candidate, whether she was the true nominee or not. She is garbage, the worst trash that could have possibly been put in office, so Trump defeated her, thank God. Now you would rather see the country in chaotic turmoil then be adult and allow Trump to succeed or fail on his own merits; just as Obama was allowed to be the failure he became.
@Greg:
Gee, Greggie, odd that you failed to acknowledge that Obama took his salary, with glee, along with spending $99,714,52982 in family travel expenses, while Trump returns his to various federal departments and takes no salary for himself.
How sad that you cannot give Trump credit where credit is due. But then, we have dealt with you long enough to know that you rely on only far left wing blogs and news sites and are nothing more than a good obedient member of the Comintern.
@retire05, #12:
Trump serves himself quadruple helpings of credit at every opportunity, whether due or not. He surely needs none from me. Perhaps he needs a whispering slave behind him in his chariot, as in the triumphs of ancient Rome.
@Deplorable Me: I cannot wait til they put that subpoena in front of a judge. They cannot demand at their pleasure that anyone break the law.
They will have to take Muellers word for it there is insufficient legal argument and evidence to bring obstruction charges against the President.
Unlike the Starr report did for Clinton.
I dont get the need for congress to get involved with the census issue its a restoration question that has been asked on every census form until removed for 2010, it has already reached the Judicial branch, do they think they need to be all 3 branches, because of the small majority they temporarily hold?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/01/census-waiting-supreme-court..
@Greg:
Wrong party; Democrats have the slaves.
@kitt:
None of that matters. All Nadler wanted was to issue a subpoena and declare Barr to be in contempt; theatrics. More guilt by association, implied guilt because HE (Nadler) did something that implies guilt. Nadler, nor any other Democrat it appears, has any regard for the law; they want POWER. Police state power.
@Deplorable Me: Its unraveling quicky, real lawyers, not the democrat version, are confused as the Democrat version says they are protecting the republic while attempting to become lil dictators.
Investigations into things already before the supreme court and trying to rule the executive branch.
Can we say remedial civics and ethics courses required? Toss them a dictionary.