House Democrats still haven’t decided if they’ll participate in the GOP-led select committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks of 2012, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told a small group of reporters in his Capitol office on Monday.
The No. 2 House Democrat spoke out against a limited participation proposal, floated publicly by some members of the party, to send just one Democrat to the committee to gather documents and monitor the probe but not fully take part.
“My view is that’s the worst of all possible worlds. We’re sort of there but you have one person, while you have seven people over here. That’s not fair, it’s not balanced. And it would give a skewed perception of what’s going on,” Hoyer said. “My view is one person is — I think you’re either in or you’re out, you’re not sort of half in or 20 percent in.”
Progressive activists recently launched a petition aimed at pushing Democratic leaders to appoint Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) to the panel.
Hoyer said that if the ratio won’t be even (the panel allows for 7 Republicans and 5 Democrats) Democrats want an equal opportunities to call up witnesses, equal access to all documents submitted by the administration and a “full and fair opportunity” to have their lawmakers and counsel cross-examine witnesses.
“We’re still in negotiations [with Speaker John Boehner] on that issue,” he said.
You’ve got to be in it to win it!
ALAN…ALAN…ALAN…
Let Alan Grayson sit on the committee.
Oh what the heck, go all in but go all in as mean, angry and determined to extract your own pound of flesh as possible. Be noisy, disruptive and call these hearings as you and most Americans see them.
Make the m’fricking GOTP pay dearly for wasting time, money and people on this by throwing these resources at this sinkhole. Ask where the g’damn jobs bills, CLEAN jobs bills not ones with all manner of noxious riders sure to fail in the Senate, that Boner promised in 2010 are. Get nasty tell the truth and be very very angry over all the money and wasted energy that the GOTP
ledmis-managed House has pissed away these past four years.Use this as a forum to stand up and be as angry as I and the majority of Americans are about this continuing use of public resource trying to make GOTP political hay!
The Democrats are entitled to five representatives on the committee. Appoint Alan Grayson to cut the Republicans’ nuts off, and four players to be named later to carry them away.
Or, at least, you got to be in it to snark it – which is what the Dems should do.