The Post & Email by William L. Kovacs 8/29/2024
The report by the House Impeachment Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means recognizes that the DOJ’s stonewalling efforts secured another victory over Congress and the rule of law. It is unacceptable that Congress accepts administration after administration refusing to provide the documents and witnesses required to conduct its constitutional duty to oversee Executive branch activities and corruption.
In the 118th Congress, the Judiciary Committee sent 311 letters to agencies requesting information on its investigations and filed 40 reports. The other committees sent out a similar number of letters and filed many investigative reports. There can be no minimizing the importance of the letters and reports; however, all must appreciate they are “letters and reports,” nothing more. Congress did not impeach Biden, and DOJ is not prosecuting any alleged illegal activities in the reports. The Southern border remains open in direct contravention of federal law, and Congress does not provide legislative solutions to prevent similar conduct in the future.
The outcome remains unchanged despite the House’s rightful complaints about the administration’s refusal to make relevant witnesses available, the assertion of Executive Privilege, and the refusal to produce the requested documents. The next Congress will likely face similar challenges, and regardless of party, the Executive will continue to withhold information from Congress.
Even when real crimes are identified by a special counsel or Inspector General report, as in the Durham and Horowitz reports, excuses will be made to Congress as to why the Executive branch cannot provide the requested answers or documents. After the inconclusive investigations, Special Counsels file their reports, and the criminals secure high-paying media or lobbying jobs.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “Congress, tear down the stonewall of obstruction.” Accept that agencies will fully respond to Congress only when their budgets are impacted. All government agencies, government contractors, grant and subsidy recipients, and consultants care about the budget of the agency that pays them. If Congress wants honest answers to its questions, it must reduce every agency’s budget when it is evasive, tardy in response, deceitful, or stonewalls Congress. If a taxpayer, citizen, or business refused to cooperate with an agency investigation, they would be subject to significant penalties. Why should agencies be able to diss Congress without a penalty?
If the authorizing and appropriation committees of Congress would cooperate, they could create a process in which the authorizing Committee would report the actions of a non-cooperating agency to the appropriations committee. When an agency refuses to comply with a congressional request for information, Congress should reduce the agency’s budget by $25,000 a day per day of refusal for the first month it refuses to comply with the request, $50,000 per day for the second month, $100,000 for the third month, and on and on until compliance is achieved or the agency is defunded. Congress could then create a new, more cooperative agency.
More:
https://www.thepostemail.com/2024/08/29/dojs-stonewalling-defeats-house-impeachment-committees/
