http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=708414Newsmax
Benghazi Dems Slam Republicans for Spending $5.5 Million on 'Partisan Politics'
Wednesday, January 6, 2016 03:34 PM
By: Todd Beamon
Democrats on the special House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks Wednesday slammed the panel — saying that its authorization has surpassed the length of the 9/11 Commission and that it has spent $5.5 million on "partisan politics."
"The Benghazi Select Committee is one of the longest, least productive, and most partisan investigations in congressional history — including the investigations of Hurricane Katrina, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President Kennedy, Iran-Contra, and Watergate," Democrats, headed by Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said in a statement.
Cummings added that the investigation has been "widely condemned as hyper-partisan and ineffective, and it stands in stark contrast to the bipartisan investigation and report issued by the 9/11 Commission."
The panel is chaired by South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy. It was created by former House Speaker John Boehner in May 2014 to investigate the attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, including two former Navy SEALs.
The Benghazi committee has been in existence for 609 days — or 19 months. By contrast, the 9/11 panel had completed its task and had released its 567-page report after 19 months, the Democrats said.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner who was secretary of state when the Libyan assaults occurred, testified before the committee in October.
"Instead of following the bipartisan model set by the 9/11 Commission, which brought our entire nation together after we were attacked by terrorists, Republicans created a highly partisan select committee with an unlimited budget to attack their political opponents," Cummings said. "Republicans continue to drag out this political charade closer to the 2016 presidential election, and the American taxpayers continue to pay the price."
However, Matt Wolking, a committee spokesman, told Newsmax that "Democrats on the Benghazi committee continue to waste taxpayer dollars playing politics and issuing stupid, meaningless press releases that are inaccurate to boot.
"Their complete lack of interest in getting answers for the families of the four Americans who died because they were left without adequate security on Sept. 11 in one of the most dangerous places in the world is grotesque.
"If Democrats would actually assist with the investigation instead of undermining it — and stop acting as a full-fledged arm of the Clinton campaign — perhaps the committee wouldn't still be waiting for crucial documents and witnesses to be produced by the administration," Wolking said.
Republicans also responded on Twitter:
Benghazi Committee
✔
@HouseBenghazi
Democrats' comparison of 9/11 Commission & #Benghazi investigation only proves process moves faster when Democrats help instead of obstruct.
12:25 PM - 6 Jan 2016
