The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for withholding information about the administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The House voted 230-198 after scheduling the vote because Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Reform Committee as part of its probe into the origins of the citizenship question.
Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee Elijah Cummings said that Congress is doing its job by holding the contempt vote to hold the Trump administration accountable, The Associated Press reported.
In a joint letter to Pelosi before the vote, Barr and Ross criticized the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, saying the House is "Undermining inter-branch comity and degrading the constitutional separation of powers and its own institutional integrity."
"We write to strongly oppose the pending resolution of the Committee on Oversight and Reform concerning the decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. It is unfortunate that in spite of our Departments' substantial efforts to accommodate the Committee's interests, the Committee and now the House of Representatives-has chosen to go forward with an unjustified contempt vote regarding a citizenship question that, as you know, will not be asked on the 2020 Census questionnaire," the two stated in the letter.
"We regret that the Committee continues to recommend the House wield its criminal contempt authority even though we remain willing to work towards an appropriate accommodation notwithstanding the privileged status of the documents at issue and the active litigation that remains pending in this matter. By taking this action, the House is both unnecessarily undermining inter-branch comity and degrading the constitutional separation of powers and its own institutional integrity," Barr and Ross continued in the letter.
The House also voted Thursday to hold Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress after they defied subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/17/house-votes-to-hold-barr-ross-in-contempt-of-congress/
The House voted 230-198 after scheduling the vote because Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Reform Committee as part of its probe into the origins of the citizenship question.
Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee Elijah Cummings said that Congress is doing its job by holding the contempt vote to hold the Trump administration accountable, The Associated Press reported.
In a joint letter to Pelosi before the vote, Barr and Ross criticized the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, saying the House is "Undermining inter-branch comity and degrading the constitutional separation of powers and its own institutional integrity."
"We write to strongly oppose the pending resolution of the Committee on Oversight and Reform concerning the decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. It is unfortunate that in spite of our Departments' substantial efforts to accommodate the Committee's interests, the Committee and now the House of Representatives-has chosen to go forward with an unjustified contempt vote regarding a citizenship question that, as you know, will not be asked on the 2020 Census questionnaire," the two stated in the letter.
"We regret that the Committee continues to recommend the House wield its criminal contempt authority even though we remain willing to work towards an appropriate accommodation notwithstanding the privileged status of the documents at issue and the active litigation that remains pending in this matter. By taking this action, the House is both unnecessarily undermining inter-branch comity and degrading the constitutional separation of powers and its own institutional integrity," Barr and Ross continued in the letter.
The House also voted Thursday to hold Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress after they defied subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/17/house-votes-to-hold-barr-ross-in-contempt-of-congress/
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