House Republicans will take the majority on Tuesday, ushering in an era of the Biden administration that will be marked by conflict and relatively little legislative progress compared to the past two years, when Democrats have occupied all of Congress and the White House .
After a dramatic vote to select the new House Speaker, GOP lawmakers, who for months have threatened a series of regulatory and ethics probes against the executive branch, have an opportunity to make good on their threats.
Republican Rep. James Comer and Jim Jordan, who are expected to chair the new Congress’ Oversight and Judiciary Committees, held a news conference in November after winning midterm to launch a full investigation into the laptop and the Business deals to be announced overseas by President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Additionally, House Republicans have signaled that an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, as well as an investigation into the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, would be top priorities.
Separate threats of investigation by the Justice Department over alleged “politicization” and the Department of Homeland Security over the border crisis have sparked a bipartisan debate over the impeachment of Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas.
Here are the five inquiries House Republicans have put on the table for the 118th Congress:
Republican Rep. James Comer and Jim Jordan, who are expected to chair the new Congress’ Oversight and Judiciary Committees, held a news conference in November after winning the midterm elections to conduct a full investigation into the President’s finances Announcing Joe Biden and his son Hunter
Hunter Biden’s shops and laptop
“Let me be clear: This is an investigation into Joe Biden, and that’s going to be our focus at the next Congress,” Rep. James Comer said during a Nov. 17 news conference announcing a full-scale investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances.
Republicans have accused President Biden of knowingly profiting from his son’s business ventures, while alleging that Hunter previously used his father’s influential position as then-vice president to further his foreign operations.
The allegations were spurred by emails recovered in 2020 from a laptop hard drive believed to belong to Hunter Biden, which appear to show he offers foreign and domestic partners meetings with his father, among other things.
Hunter Biden has reportedly hired a new attorney, who had represented Jared Kushner and Bill Clinton at various positions, to protect him from the impending attack, according to NBC.
Republican lawmakers claim to have received credible testimony from whistleblowers to back up the allegations.
The President has repeatedly denied any knowledge of or involvement in his son’s affairs.
Republicans have accused President Biden of knowingly profiting from his son’s business ventures, while alleging that Hunter previously used his father’s influential position as then-vice president to further his foreign operations
COVID-19 pandemic and Dr. fauci
Republican lawmakers have signaled several points of investigative interest related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the origins of the virus and the U.S. government’s handling of public health policies at the height of the pandemic’s severity.
A proposed rules package released late Sunday night shows that the GOP’s upcoming meeting will prioritize an investigation into the causes of the coronavirus.
A Republican-led report released last month suggests the possibility that COVID was manufactured in China as a bioweapon and then inadvertently entered public contact has not been ruled out.
And on Nov. 27, then-regulatory representative James Comer told NBC News’ Meet The Press that his committee in the new Congress would focus on COVID funding.
He claimed that “hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars have been squandered over the past three years, which includes two governments on behalf of COVID.”
Conservatives will also likely like Dr. Prompting Anthony Fauci, who rose to national recognition and became a polarizing figure during the pandemic, to testify – something he has signaled he will be open to.
Conservatives will also likely like Dr. Prompting Anthony Fauci, who rose to national recognition and became a polarizing figure during the pandemic, to testify – something he has signaled he will be open to
Southern Border Crisis
Illegal immigration has long been a key issue for Republicans, and President Biden’s first two years in office are no different, as a record number of people are found on the southern border under his administration’s oversight.
Border communities and even cities like New York and Washington, DC have seen their infrastructure strained by the sheer numbers of undocumented people, most of whom are fleeing unstable situations in Central and South America.
It has even led some on the right of the GOP conference to call for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — though more moderate Republicans have pumped the pauses on such threats.
A letter from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee to Mayorkas in late November said, “The current state of the southern border is dangerous, chaotic and inhumane as smugglers continue to benefit from the Biden administration’s self-inflicted crisis.”
“The Republican Committee in the 118th Congress will continue to oversee the humanitarian and national security disaster caused by the policies of the Biden administration,” lawmakers promised.
Department of Justice and the FBI
Allegations of politicization by the Justice Department and the FBI reached an insanely high point over the summer, when federal agents raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.
The investigation, based on documents illegally stolen from the White House by Trump at the end of his term as president, was a lightning rod for Republican criticism in both the moderate and far-right factions of the GOP.
They accused President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland of arming the DOJ against a possible rival of Biden’s in 2024.
The FBI has been subjected to an additional GOP scrutiny — the Facebook CEO Mark — over revelations that senior officials met with social media companies ahead of the 2020 election to draw attention to possible “misinformation” attempts by malicious foreign actors Zuckerberg had previously revealed the reason for his platform’s censorship in an October 2020 New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
A report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee late last year accused the FBI of fostering “a rampant culture of irresponsibility, manipulation and abuse at the highest levels.”
Migrants queue near the border fence in El Paso, Texas Monday after crossing the Rio Bravo River to seek asylum
The Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
Multiple hearings on the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan have fallen short of the Republican threshold of responsibility for the chaotic operation.
Rep. Michael McCaul, who is expected to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has already signaled that he would like the body to look deeper into the crisis.
Last month, McCaul asked parts of the administration, including the Treasury and State Departments, to turn over documents related to the disengagement.
The probe is expected to explore multiple facets of the disengagement, including the ISIS-K suicide bombing that resulted in the killing of 13 US soldiers and 170 Afghans.
It is also expected to look at thousands of Afghan allies, including special immigrant visa applicants, who have been left under Taliban rule to largely fend for themselves.
“Why did it go so bad? Why were the Americans left behind? Why were 100,000 Afghan partners whom we promised to protect left to the Taliban?’ McCaul said in an interview with the New Republic.
Multiple hearings on the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan have fallen short of the Republican threshold of responsibility for the chaotic operation