Republican staffers on the House Judiciary Committee’s Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight Subcommittee were suddenly sent scurrying during the panel’s June 22 hearing when Democrats, without warning, offered a privileged motion to adjourn.
The staffers were rushing to get subcommittee chairman Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who had both stepped out briefly, to return to the hearing room quickly because at that moment Democrats Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) out-numbered Rep. Nathaniel Moran, the Texas Republican temporarily chairing the hearing in Cline’s absence.
Cline’s reentry to the hearing meant there would be a tie vote, so Ivey withdrew the motion and the hearing continued. Ivey later told The Epoch Times he did so “in a spirit of cooperation.” Even so, the motion produced a close call that almost shut down the GOP majority’s latest effort to shine a spotlight on how President Joe Biden’s appointees are throwing up endless bureaucratic obstacles to frustrate and avoid congressional and public accountability….