Unprecedented tensions between House Republicans and the FBI and Department of Justice are expected to ratchet up as congressional members seek to hold the bureaucracies accountable on the chamber floor.
Over the past year, the conflict between House Republicans and federal law enforcement agencies has been amplified by issues surrounding the Hunter Biden investigation and potentially illegal data searches on American citizens by the FBI.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has indicated his intentions to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland, while other GOP lawmakers have said they will push to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Furthermore, some House Republicans have proposed cutting the budgets of both the DOJ and the FBI.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) said he believes the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will take its fight with the agencies to the chamber floor, asserting that they “believe the best way to send a message is to use the power of the purse,” according to Politico.
Some, like Womack, even suggest House Republicans will target funding for a new FBI headquarter building.
Womack said he “think[s] there will be, probably, an effort” to add language to upcoming spending bills that would cut funding for the headquarters, Politico reported.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has previously said Congress must “leverage” the FBI’s budget to force reform within the agency.
“The only way we can hold them accountable is to go at the one thing that everybody cares about — the money,” he said, claiming the DOJ is “weaponized more than ever.”
However, congressional Democrats are vehemently opposed to the proposition.
“It’s outrageous that House Republicans are using the men and women of the FBI, the rank-and-file, as political pawns in this process,” declared Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), per Politico. “Everybody has acknowledged that the FBI needs a new headquarters building. I mean, it’s falling down around them.”
“And so what the House Republicans are saying is, we’re not going to repair the building where the men and women of the FBI work from because they disagree with the director of the FBI,” he alleged.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has also defended the DOJ against allegations of bias and corruption.
“Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department, and its components, and its employees, by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
However, FBI whistleblowers have recently alleged there is rampant corruption and bias in how the agency goes about its law enforcement duties, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
One whistleblower reportedly claimed the FBI deputy director threatened to fire employees who questioned the agency’s approach to investigating the protests at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
The Dallas Express contacted the FBI for comment but received no response by press time.
