Given the fact that there has always been a chance that Democrats would retake control over the House of Representatives, one would think that the party would have some idea of what they would do with their new-found power. Apparently, they haven’t thought that far ahead.
Reports from the last few days make it apparent that there are still deep divisions within the party, as leaders such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer attempt to showcase themselves in a bipartisan light while and other Democrat politicians are open about their intentions to do everything they can do disrupt Donald Trump’s presidency.
Rep. Adam Schiff recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he described the numerous investigations that a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives would launch. He made it clear that the House Intelligence Committee would re-open the Russian collusion investigation to look for links between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. He stated that other Democrat representatives would investigate issues related to corruption, abuse of power, campaign finance violations, the day to day operations of the Department of Veteran Affairs and the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
At the same time, potential House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Richard Neal has reported that he would make it a priority to obtain the President’s past tax returns, setting off what is certain to be a messy legal fight that will last for months or even years. The president’s cabinet members could also feel the heat as Congressional committees could require them to testify about controversial policies and positions. In short, President Trump and those who work in his administration could be faced with multiple subpoenas and investigations from a myriad of House Committees in the coming year.
There is also a possibility that only a few of the promised investigations will actually take place. Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee are already saying that they will not fully re-open an investigation into the Russia collusion narrative, although they might opt to investigate some aspects of it a bit further. Party leaders such as Rep. Raul Grijalva are making it clear that they will not use control over the House of Representatives to launch as many investigations as they can, because they are worried that such a move will backfire on them in the 2020 presidential elections. Instead, these leaders will talk to new committee heads to sort out which investigations should take place, and which should be shelved.
Rep. Pelosi, who stands to regain the speakership, has made it clear that the Democrats will put a priority on obtaining the President’s tax returns; however, it is not known which other investigations they party would seek to pursue. Even so, one form of intervention seems to be off the table and that is impeachment. In fact, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer are even discouraging the use of the word in political campaigns leading up to the mid-term elections. This stance is already proving hard for other Democrat politicians and aspiring politicians to swallow, and some have already gone off-script to publicly support a vote on impeachment.
Beto O’Rourke, who is running for Senate in Texas, has stated that he would support impeachment of the president. Kevin de Leon, who is running for Senate in California, has said pretty much the same thing while Rep. Al Green stated in a recent tweet that Democrats should either defeat or impeach President Trump.
It is hard to tell exactly what will happen if Democrats win back the House. What is known is that some Democrats want to use their prospective new powers with restraint as they are concerned about riling conservative and independent voters in advance of 2020. Others, however, want to do everything possible to ruin the remaining two years of President Trump’s first term.
What we can say for certain, however, is that it is much better for America if these people do not win.
~ Liberty Planet
