WASHINGTON D.C. –(ENEWSPF)—October 1, 2015. Last night, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz admitted on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer that there is no evidence that Planned Parenthood has broken any laws. Earlier in the week, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News that a primary motivation behind formation of the Select Committee on Benghazi was to damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Rep. Schakowsky released the following statement in response:
We now have confirmation from key players in the Republican leadership that they have used Congressional committees and taxpayer dollars for political and ideological purposes.
Remarkably, yesterday the vast majority of House Republicans – 151 members – voted to shut down the government in order to defund Planned Parenthood despite the fact that last night, Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz admitted that there is no evidence that Planned Parenthood violated any laws.
I am a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee – one of three committees that have been required by the Republican leadership to spend time investigating Planned Parenthood for alleged violations of law that they know didn’t happen. It’s not enough to waste valuable time and money investigating bogus claims, the Republican Majority now wants to create a special body to pursue this attack on Planned Parenthood and limit women’s access to reproductive services, while dozens of Republican members continue to threaten a government shutdown right before the December holidays over funding for the organization.
I served as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee in 2014, when we issued a comprehensive bipartisan report concluding that there was no evidence of wrongdoing surrounding the attack in Benghazi. We were one of several committees charged with investigating the Benghazi attacks, which came to the same conclusion. Not satisfied, the Republican majority created a Select Committee, and Majority Leader McCarthy has admitted that partisan politics was at least a primary reason why. The Select Committee has cost over $4 million and, over the course of 16 months, has only held 3 hearings.
I urge my Republican colleagues who set the agenda for what is supposed to the People’s House to get back to the people’s business. It’s time to do our job. Instead of pursuing these partisan investigations, we should be focused on creating good-paying jobs, lowering prescription drug prices, providing women with equal pay, making education affordable and improving retirement security.
Source: www.schakowsky.house.gov
