Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., accused Jon Stewart of “showboating” during a recent congressional hearing to reauthorize a fund that covers the medical bills of 9/11 responders.
Stewart is the former host of “The Daily Show” and a longtime advocate for the fund. On June 11, he delivered an emotional, nine-minute opening statement to House panel, saying the members should be ashamed of the largely empty room.
“I think Jon Stewart was doing a little showboating in that visit,” Rogers, who is not a member of the subcommittee, said in an interview on C-SPAN. “You know, one of the things I found disappointing in him is he was testifying in front of a subcommittee in a full committee chamber and made a big issue about all the empty chairs and members not caring when there was only two members of the subcommittee that weren’t present, and I think he knew that.”
“The fact is I do think this will be reauthorized. I think it will be reauthorized by the end of the year. He may want it to happen sooner than that, but this is the legislative arena and we have our own timetables of getting things done,” Rogers said.
“I think Jon Stewart was doing a little showboating.” – @RepMikeRogersAL (R-Alabama) tells @scottwongdc, referring to the comedian’s testimony on Capitol Hill last week.
Watch #Newsmakers Sunday at 10am & 6pm EThttps://t.co/LIAmfxUNBm pic.twitter.com/6D7knySQDA
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 22, 2019
While many seats on the committee were empty during Stewart’s testimony, the room had a much larger capacity than the number of lawmakers sitting on the House Judiciary subcommittee. Just two members of the 14-member subcommittee were absent for Stewart’s testimony.
“Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress,” Stewart said at the time. “Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one. Shameful. It’s an embarrassment to the country, and it is a stain on this institution.”
