Democrats violate committee rules to favor political consultants over members of Congress

WASHINGTON — Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee, released the following joint statement after sending a letter to Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Chairperson of the House Administration Committee, and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, in response to Democrats' violating House and committee rules in order to allow a political consultant to question a witness during a Judiciary oversight hearing. "House Democrats have reached a new low this Congress as they pretend to hold impeachment proceedings that their own majority and leadership haven’t authorized. Tuesday’s decision to allow an outside, private consultant to question a witness violates clear House committee rules, which say explicitly that consultants may not perform the duties of committee staff. The decision by the chairs to allow this flagrant breach of House rules sets a dangerous precedent. By extending the opportunity for a part-time, political consultant to question a witness for thirty minutes while denying a duly elected member of Congress the opportunity to designate himself to do the same — even though the rules allow members that time — Democrats have granted political consultants and private contractors greater congressional privileges than elected representatives of the people. "The reason committees are authorized to hire consultants in the first place is so consultants may ‘advise’ the committee members and staff on matters within the committee’s jurisdiction. Consultants are not intended to ‘perform’ the duties of the members or staff. The only expertise these two consultants seem to have is giving nearly $200,000 combined to Democratic candidates and organizations and being outspoken critics of the president. If the Judiciary Committee majority members wish to have these political consultants ‘perform’ the duties of staff, then the consultant contracts should be terminated, and they should be hired as staff. This will ensure that they are held to the same ethical standards, outside income restrictions, limitations on lobbying, financial discourses and obligations of all House staff." Read the full letter here.