Thread: Black caucus wants Issa stripped of committee chairmanship for Cummings mike cut

No rebuke for you! House defeats Democrats’ attempt to chastise Issa

By Stephen Dinan
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The Washington Times
Thursday, March 6, 2014

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  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell E. Issa prepares ...more >

Republicans circled around Rep. Darrell Issa Thursday, rejecting a Democratic effort to censure the House’s top investigator after he cut off the microphone of the top Democrat on the oversight committee Wednesday during a heated hearing.

GOP lawmakers defeated a resolution chastising Mr. Issa, and House Speaker John A. Boehner gave Mr. Issa qualified backing, saying the congressman was within his rights to end Wednesday’s hearing after former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner refused to answer questions about the tax agency’s tea party targeting.

The vote was 211-186 to table the resolution, effectively killing it. Ten lawmakers voted “present.”

“From what I understand, I think Mr. Issa was within his rights to adjourn the hearing when he did,” Mr. Boehner told reporters Thursday morning, rejecting calls to remove the California Republican.

“Darrell Issa is the chairman. He’s done an effective job as chairman, and I support him,” the GOP’s leader said.

In Wednesday’s hearing, Mr. Issa had recalled Ms. Lerner to try to make her testify about her role in the IRS’s targeting of tea party groups for special scrutiny.

After Ms. Lerner refused to answer 10 separate questions, citing her right against self-incrimination, Mr. Issa gaveled the hearing closed. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, asked to be recognized and Mr. Issa said he would entertain a question, but when Mr. Cummings began a statement criticizing the IRS investigation, Mr. Issa had the microphones cut and left the room.

Mr. Cummings finished his statement while Ms. Lerner sat at the witness table, but it was done without the benefit of the public address system and without any Republicans remaining to hear him.

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