The House GOP's efforts to find wrongdoing by President Joe Biden aren't yielding the results that some Republican lawmakers thought they would — and there is growing frustration within the caucus and their hardest-right constituents, reported Politico on Tuesday.
"According to interviews with more than a dozen House Republicans, a sizable chunk of the conference is focused on preventing a banking crisis and a looming debt fight instead of on Biden family oversight or a politicized government panel," reported Politico.
"At the same time, the party base is chafing at the lack of big bombshells and concrete steps against administration officials to back up all of lawmakers’ talk."
"Republicans have fired off scores of letters, issued subpoenas and initial reports and held a handful of hearings. But part of the problem is the lofty expectations they set coming in," said the report.
"Long before GOP lawmakers settled their speakership fight, they promised voters they’d deploy the chamber’s oversight power against President Joe Biden on a host of issues. They vowed to find a smoking gun that links Biden to his family’s overseas business dealings. They even embraced comparisons of their investigative efforts to Congress’ storied 1970s Church Committee, which uncovered significant abuses by the intelligence community."
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), told Politico, “All of us hear from constituents that they’re very anxious for results. And our task, part of our task, is explaining to people what this process is about, and what to expect. I think some people get anxious because they just want immediate results.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who heads up a new panel dedicated to investigating what Republicans call the "weaponization" of government, has been stymied at times as his committee gets ahead of itself. A heated exchange between him and Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) took place last month during a public hearing about FBI investigation tactics, after she pointed out he prematurely issued subpoenas without trying to secure officials' voluntary cooperation first.
"[Oversight Chair James] Comer released a report last month focused on Hunter Biden and other Biden family members’ receipt of more than $1 million from an associate who made a deal with a Chinese energy company — though Republicans didn’t draw a direct link to the president, which has been their stated goal," said the report. "The Treasury Department also has granted Comer’s panel access to so-called suspicious activity reports related to Hunter Biden and associates. But the committee has yet to release any new findings from those activity reports, which are records submitted by banks that don’t necessarily indicate wrongdoing."
