House GOP Expands Poisonous Issa Model Across Key House Committees

Remember the subpoena binges and abuse of power in House Oversight Committee under Rep. Darrell Issa's leadership?  Well, Americans are about to witness even more overreach from Republican-led House committees:

• CQ News: McCaul Secures New Subpoena Power

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul secured new subpoena authority Thursday, in a move becoming popular among Republican leaders.

• CQ News: No Votes Needed for GOP Subpoenas from House Judiciary

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee now can authorize and issue subpoenas without a committee vote… In the past, subpoenas—a powerful oversight tool that can be used to score political points—were authorized only by a vote of a committee or subcommittee…Goodlatte said the new subpoena rule is an important tool that needs to be used…

• CQ News: Financial Services Panel Grants Chairman New Subpoena Authority

The House Financial Services panel, on a party-line split, agreed…to grant Chairman Jeb Hensarling singular new subpoena powers as part of controversial rules for the panel in the 114th Congress… The new rules give the Texas Republican expanded ability to issue subpoenas on his own to the executive branch, authority Hensarling can use to toughen the committee's oversight of agencies implementing financial regulations.

As POLITICO noted:

House Republicans are about to give more of their committee leaders the same unilateral subpoena power…in a break from years of tradition, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) wouldn't need to consult with his panel's top Democrat before subpoenaing documents or witnesses about issues like Obamacare or the Environmental Protection Agency.

Two other panels — Agriculture and Science, Space and Technology — are considering making the same change…Democrats denounce the moves as a power grab, repeating their complaints that Issa (R-Calif.) "abused" his subpoena authority by bombarding the administration with hundreds of demands when he led the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"The Republican playbook is clear: obstruct, distract, subpoena, repeat," Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said separately. "This change will inevitably [lead] to widespread abuses of power as Republicans infect the other committees with the poisonous process that Issa has so abused during his chairmanship."