U.S. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut says the impeachment hearings has directed Congress away from focusing on its more traditional work.
“One of the sacrifices here, and of course the Republicans have made great hay out of this, is that we have not been able to do our traditional oversight in a meaningful way for three, four weeks. It’s not entirely gone, but we have limited staffs.”
Himes says that right now congressional oversight is crucial, since under President Donald Trump authorities have been expanded in ways that invite good congressional oversight.
He also says the Republican Party has given itself over to conspiracy theories to defend the president and that weakens the country.
“That’s just clown-like. And it disappoints me as a person who represents a purple district and by the way, politically that’s not bad for me because Republicans where I come from are pretty outraged at that too, but it’s pretty bad for our government. If we can’t have the important and good conversations but instead run down rabbit holes about CrowdStrike servers and all that we’re being treated to on a daily basis, that in my mind just demonstrates profound weakness in our federal government.”
The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on Wednesday on the constitutional basis of impeachment.
Himes says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is committed to wrapping up the impeachment hearings by the end of the year.
