Darrell Issa’s Inquiries Into Wasteful Pending Are Examples Wastefully Spending
The job of the House Oversight and Reform Committee is to oversee wasteful spending and to make sure government runs efficiently. It looks as though the House Oversight and Reform Committee needs oversight and reform.
…one of the biggest offenders may be its chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
Issa has cost the government millions of dollars through redundant inquiries into two matters: the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the IRS’ targeting of political groups seeking tax-exempt status. Yet his probes have revealed little more than a political agenda behind them.
In the case of Benghazi, Issa has claimed that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to “stand down” military units that could have been sent to Benghazi to prevent the deaths of four Americans. Military leaders and top Republicans have already confirmed that no such order was given, but Issa has spent the last year and a half investigating whether the U.S. government is engaged in a cover-up.
His demands for information and interviews from the Defense Department have cost the agency millions of dollars and thousands of hours, according to Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith, who reached out to the Defense secretary to gauge those costs, raised concerns with Issa’s “numerous and often repetitive congressional requests” in a recent letter to his committee chairman, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.).
“More than any other committee in Congress, this committee should understand the financial strain on the Department of Defense, which is being made worse by these ongoing and ridiculous investigations,” writes Smith. “In light of the needless waste of our military’s and committee’s resources, I am requesting that we immediately end our involvement with this witch-hunt.”
