'Do Nothing' Republicans Scheme to Hold Attorney General in Contempt

From the Frontrunner on 6/20. The AP (6/20) reports that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who chairs the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, "said Tuesday he is prepared to follow through on a contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder unless the Justice Department provides Congress with documents on a flawed gun-smuggling probe." The AP reports that the "likelihood of a contempt vote on Wednesday rose after" Issa and Holder "failed to reach agreement in a 20-minute meeting at the Capitol. 'If we receive no documents, we'll go forward,' Issa told reporters." Holder "told reporters he would not turn over documents on the gun-smuggling probe called Operation Fast and Furious unless Issa agreed to another meeting," saying "he would explain what is in the materials at that time."  

The Washington Times reports that Holder "showed up empty-handed during a 20-minute, face-to-face meeting Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill with" Issa, who told reporters, "I had hoped that after this evening's meeting I would be able to tell you that the department had delivered documents that would justify the postponement of tomorrow's vote on contempt. The department told the committee on Thursday that it had documents it could produce that would answer our questions. Today, the attorney general informed us that the department would not be producing those documents. The only offer they made involved us ending our investigation."

Politico (6/20, Bresnahan, Sherman, 25K) reports that House Republicans "are charging head first into their most direct conflict with President Barack Obama's administration over the extent of executive branch power, as they prepare to hold" Holder in contempt of Congress. "The two sides remained at loggerheads Tuesday evening," adds Politico, "after a 20-minute huddle in Majority Leader Eric Cantor's third-floor Capitol suite. Holder later called Issa's position 'political gamesmanship' and not a true attempt to resolve the dispute."

Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) have been attacking the Obama administration since pretty much the day Barack Obama took office. Before 2010, as just the ranking members of two powerful House committees and members of the minority party, their criticisms of administration officials and their decisions had been mostly limited to issuing press releases. Now as the chairmen of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee, they possess subpoena power, and have a "robust" unit of investigators at their disposal to attack the President with. -The Business Insider November 3, 2010.