Post # 179, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
The members of the otherwise all Democratic House Committee with the most credibility will probably be Republican Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois)
The U.S. House Speaker is determined to have the House of Representatives conduct a comprehensive hearing on what happened at our Capitol on January 6, 2021. Almost all the world watched it happen, and many of us predicted that something bad was going to happen with the threats spreading, primarily by supporters of President Trump. It is true that we don't know the details of how it happened, who did what, and what we can do to ensure it never happens again. That, ostensibly, is what the Speaker hopes to achieve with this Special Committee and their planned hearings.
So it is given that the Speaker can appoint or approve all members of the Committee, although it is bound by general, not a specific, law. If appointments are made by party, the majority party, in this case the Democrats would typically have the most members. Normally, both the Speaker and the Minority Leader would appoint their respective members of the Committee, based on seniority and from the relevant Committees. For the Republicans, that would include Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Jim Banks (R., Indiana). There are few Republicans more partisan and bellicose about the hearing in the GOP than Banks and Jordan, and Leader McCarthy knows it (Trump also). Many observers feel the 2 Congressman are human bombs waiting to go off on the Committee. They were dropped by the Speaker, even though their seniority and committee assignments might not dictate so.
On the Democratic side, at least 2 of the ranking members who normally would be on the Committee are Adam Schiff (D., Cal.) and Jamie Raskin (D., ), by virtue of their seniority and Committee assignments. But, although they are both much better in control on Committees than Banks or Jordan, Schiff and Raskin have both been vocal and on strongly on record attacking Trump's actions. In the interest of fairness, they should be dropped from the Committee by the Speaker.
The point here is fairness. I understand the opposing arguments for the leaders to make their appointments without any interference. As of now, we have chaos. The Speaker has appointed two Republicans, Liz Chaney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, as McCarthy has pulled all other Republicans from the Speaker's Committee. The Republicans say they will conduct their own hearing. Banks and Jordan will now have their own Committee platform to attack everything but the issues at hand.
The result of this posturing in the House probably means that the members of the House with the most credibility will probably be two of its' best members, Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Adam Kinzinger. They are the only Republicans on the otherwise all Democratic Committee.
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