Lowey, Ryan Call Out Senseless GOP Attempt to Interfere with Mueller Investigation
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member, and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member, today called out a senseless attempt by House Republicans, led by Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), to interfere with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Yesterday evening, Rep. Meadows offered an amendment to the FY 2019 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that purports to require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform a semi-annual audit of special counsels. This amendment passed the House by a vote of 207-201.
“House Republicans will apparently stop at nothing to help President Trump denigrate the Special Counsel investigation of him, his campaign, and his White House. Legal experts agree that the Meadows amendment has no real-world effect, but Republicans offered the amendment anyway to cast aspersions on Robert Mueller — one of the most respected law enforcement officials in our country. Fortunately, this attempt won’t work. The American people understand that it is not normal for a President to be engaged in so much questionable conduct or for his political party to go to such lengths to obscure the truth. This amendment will do nothing to stop Special Counsel Mueller from doing his job and finding the truth,” said Ranking Member Lowey.
“This amendment is an attempt to enlist the GAO into the Republican effort to discredit Special Counsel Mueller, and it is a symbolic attempt to muddy the waters further on the independent Russia investigation. Ignoring the fact that this amendment does nothing to change current law, it was passed by the Republican House of Representatives in a party line vote. It is a transparent effort to inject more confusion and misinformation into Robert Muller’s critical investigation, and intimidate the dedicated men and women in law enforcement who are working diligently to determine Russia’s role in interfering with the 2016 election. It is a shame Congressional Republicans are more concerned with carrying President Trump’s water than in exercising their constitutional duties of oversight. If the President and his party are interested in putting this in the rearview, they should stop their theatrics and give the Special Counsel what he needs to conclude his work,” said Congressman Ryan.
Background:
The text says “no funds in this bill can be used to enforce a provision of law enacted in 2009 that repealed an earlier provision of law that required GAO review of Independent Counsel spending.” Even if the Meadows amendment was signed into law, you can’t “not enforce” a repeal that happened years ago. This amendment does not have the power to reestablish the semiannual Government Accountability Office review, and Appropriations Democratic staff understand that the House Office of Legislative Counsel (charged with writing legislation), Office of Law Revision Counsel (charged with maintaining the U.S. Code), and GAO have reached the same conclusion.