Decision To Investigate Trump Confidantes’ Influence On VA Suggests Harder Edge To House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the new Democratic chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, requested documents and “information about alleged improper influence” by Isaac Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz and Marc Sherman “over policy and personnel decisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs.” But some lawmakers caution against going too far down that path, when there are so many other important issues for the committee to address.
The New York Times:
House Democrats, Newly Empowered, Turn Their Investigations On Veterans Affairs
The new Democratic leadership of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said Friday that it would investigate the influence exerted by three members of President Trump’s Florida beach club on the Department of Veterans Affairs. The move was viewed as an early, and powerful, indication that the committee, which has always been known as among the most bipartisan on Capitol Hill, could adopt a harder edge under the new Congress as empowered Democrats move to scrutinize the administration. (Steinhauer, 2/8)
In other news —
CQ:
Administration Seeks To Ban House From Joining Health Lawsuit
The Trump administration is objecting to House Democrats' efforts to intervene in a legal challenge to the 2010 health care law, arguing that the House does not have an “institutional interest” in defending already-enacted laws. The administration's filing Friday argues that not only does the House not have an interest in defending the law, the chamber is already represented by a group of Democratic state attorneys defending the law and the congressional motion is not timely, as it comes months after those states intervened. (McIntire, 2/8)
