Darrell Issa — the chairman-in-waiting of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — wants each of his seven subcommittees to hold one or two hearings a week, for a total of seven hearings per week during a 40-week period, he told Politico. That would mean nearly 300 hearings.
Issa also said he is looking at members like Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio to chair some of the seven subcommittees of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Issa’s plan of 280 hearings in the next year would nearly triple the average annual number of hearings held by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) during the Bush administration.
“As Clint Eastwood says, a man needs to know his limitations,” Issa told Politico.
The California Republican, who has been making the media rounds since the GOP took the House, also hinted he may try to switch the name of the committee from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.
Issa first laid out his oversight plan in September and has said he’s interested in taking a look at ACORN as well as the bank bailout, the stimulus package and possibly health care reform. He has distanced himself from predictions that he’d investigate the job offer former President Bill Clinton made to Rep. Joe Sestak if he were to drop out of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary.
