Two largely partisan efforts emerging in the House of Representatives could provide a preview of how each party plans to approach the 2022 election cycle.
Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Tuesday began informal hearings on origins of the COVID-19 virus in China, accusing Democrats of refusing to investigate signs that it could have come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab after previously brushing the concerns under the rug in order to help win the 2020 election.
At the same time, the Democratic-controlled House is set to vote on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announced select committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which could drag out the issue far into the midterm election cycle and become an election issue — a stated fear of Republicans.
History shows that each effort has the potential to become a major messaging factor in the midterm elections, as investigations into the 2012 Benghazi attack and Russia’s influence on the 2016 election had impacts on midterm elections in 2014 and 2018.
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During Tuesday’s Republican-led forum, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and other members railed against Democrats, arguing that they failed to complete their duty.
“We have a simple basic question: How did COVID-19 start? What was the origin of COVID-19? We’ve asked that question for more than a year and requested that the House majority hold hearings to investigate the origins of COVID-19,” Scalise said. “Perplexingly, Speaker Pelosi has refused to allow a single hearing, calling it a diversion.”
Because they are in the minority, Republicans do not have the power to compel testimony or issue subpoenas when holding forums. But they took the opportunity to promote their own forum in press conferences and on television and noted that Dr. Anthony Fauci was invited to provide testimony but did not show up. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik summed up the effort last week in a slogan-ready rallying cry: “China lied, and Americans died.”
Tuesday’s forum follows a letter that Republicans wrote to Pelosi in May demanding a hearing on the origins of the virus. Congressional Democrats have so far indicated that they will wait until the intelligence community completes a 90-day review on the virus’s origins ordered by President Joe Biden before taking further action.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who focused in detail on emails from Fauci in the hearing, told the Washington Examiner that he was not sure how many more Republican-only forums of Tuesday’s nature could be held. “I hope not any because I hope that the Democrats actually do their job,” he said.
As Republicans focus on coronavirus origins, Democrats are charging ahead on going it alone with a Jan. 6 investigation after Republicans last month blocked a bipartisan, bicameral Jan. 6 commission that had concessions from Democrats.
“Republicans refuse to take yes for an answer,” House Democratic Conference Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said in a Tuesday press conference.
Pelosi’s proposed Jan. 6 select committee would not only deny Republicans control over subpoenas and staff, it has no set deadline to deliver a report — differing from a commission that previously passed the House and was blocked by Republicans in the Senate, which had a Dec. 31 deadline.
That makes hearings and reports extending from the select committee likely to extend into 2022, providing fuel to various Democratic-aligned political action committees that aim to target Republicans based on their votes to object to Electoral College results on Jan. 6.
The Democratic campaign arm is happy to draw a contrast to how Democrats and Republicans are approaching Jan. 6.
“House Democrats are focused on the solemn responsibility of figuring out what led to a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol that left five Americans dead. House Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene spent this past weekend at a Trump rally in Ohio furthering the Big Lie,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Chris Taylor said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Text of the select committee proposal allows Pelosi to appoint 13 members, with five of those being appointed after “consultation” with Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but echoes the 2014 resolution that established the Republican-controlled select committee on the Benghazi attack.
Scalise on Tuesday declined to say if Republicans would participate in Pelosi’s select committee, and some Republicans who voted in favor of the bipartisan commission have indicated that they will vote against the Democratic-controlled proposal.
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But Pelosi is “seriously considering” appointing a Republican to the body, according to a senior Democratic aide, which could highlight divisions within the Republican Party. Two Republicans who have been outspoken on the Jan. 6 issue, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, have not ruled out joining the committee at the direction of Pelosi but said they have not spoken to her about it.
McCarthy brushed off the possibility of Pelosi appointing Republicans. “On any committee, a Democrat appoints the Democrats, the Republicans appoints the Republicans,” he told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday evening following release of the resolution.
