WASHINGTON — Rep. Darrell Issa, House Republicans’ new chief investigator, is expanding his oversight committee to focus on the heart of President Barack Obama’s legislative achievements.
The California Republican, who has called Obama’s administration “corrupt,” says he will hold hundreds of hearings as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
He has created two subcommittees to scrutinize policies defining Obama’s first two years in office: the $814 billion economic-stimulus plan and the bailouts of banks and automakers. A third panel will oversee Obama’s health care overhaul.
Issa’s decisions signal that, at least initially, he wants to focus on issues that helped Republicans regain the House majority in the Nov. 2 elections, said Mark Paoletta, a lawyer who helped run investigations for the House Energy and Commerce Committee when the party was last in control before 2007.
“These will be very fertile grounds to find waste, fraud and abuse,” said Paoletta. “It will be a gold mine” that “goes to the heart of some of Obama’s signature legislative issues.” Bloomberg News
