Overview
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In its brief return to work on April 23 to vote on added funding for the CARES Act, the US House of Representatives also approved a new Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (the Select Subcommittee) within the existing Committee on Oversight and Reform. The Select Subcommittee will have extremely broad jurisdiction and oversight powers (including subpoena authority), but no legislative authority.[1] The vote was along partisan lines, with Republicans questioning the need for the new Subcommittee.[2]
Here are the essential components of H.Res. 935, the resolution forming the Select Subcommittee:
Membership. There will be twelve members of the Select Subcommittee (seven appointed by the Speaker and five appointed by the Minority Leader). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has announced that Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC), who currently serves as the Majority Whip, will chair the Select Subcommittee.[3]
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has announced that Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) will lead Republicans on the Select Subcommittee.[4]
Jurisdiction. The Select Subcommittee will have virtually unfettered jurisdiction over all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is "authorized and directed to conduct a full and complete investigation and study and issue a final report to the House of its findings (and such interim reports as it may deem necessary)" regarding:
- The use of taxpayer funds in response to the pandemic
- Instances of waste, fraud, and abuse
- The implementation of federal new or existing pandemic-related laws
- Preparedness and response to the pandemic, "including the planning for and implementation of testing, containment, mitigation, and surveillance activities; the acquisition, distribution, or stockpiling of protective equipment and medical supplies; and the development of vaccines and treatments"
- The economic impact of the pandemic
- Any disparate impacts of the pandemic on different communities and populations
- "Executive Branch policies, deliberations, decisions, activities, and internal and external communications related to the coronavirus crisis"
- The protection of whistleblowers
- The cooperation of the Executive Branch "and others" with Congress in connection with the pandemic
- "[A]ny other issues related to the coronavirus crisis"
This jurisdictional authority, of course, duplicates that of many of the standing committees of the House over health care, financial aid to industry, and other key issues arising from the pandemic and the federal response. Interestingly, section 5 of H.Res. 935 requires that existing committees transfer records relating to the pandemic to the Select Subcommittee within seven days, presumably as a measure to consolidate House oversight within the new panel.
Investigative Powers. H.Res. 935 grants the Select Subcommittee all the powers of any other Oversight and Reform subcommittee under the rules of the House and the rules of the full O&R committee. These include subpoena power (including a subpoena to provide written responses to interrogatories) and deposition authority.
Term. The Select Subcommittee will dissolve 30 days after filing a "final report" on its activities. There is no deadline for the filing of that report.
Budget. The resolution authorizes $2 million for the Select Subcommittee's work in 2020. That is a fairly substantial sum for the operation of a subcommittee, and will clearly enable its leadership to retain the services of qualified full-time staff and experts.
With the establishment of the Select Subcommittee and several rounds of unprecedented funding for COVID-19 response, Congress may now shift a good portion of its attention to oversight, which will almost certainly involve the seeking of information, documents and testimony from the private sector. That effort meets with enormous difficulty from the outset because the full House (and most of official Washington) is far from returning to business as usual. The Select Subcommittee may be the first ever to conduct entirely "remote" oversight in the coming months.
[1] The new Subcommittee will exist independent of the Congressional Oversight Commission formed by the CARES Act itself.
[2] See https://republicans-energycommerce.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020-04-23-GOP-Rankers-to-Pelosi-Final.pdf.
[3] https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/4220. The other Democratic members of the Subcommittee are: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee; Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chair of the House Small Business Committee; Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee; Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), a member of the House Financial Services Committee; Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee; and, Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a member of the House Small Business Committee. https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/42920-2
[4] https://www.republicanleader.gov/mccarthy-announces-republican-panel-on-coronavirus-oversight-committee/. The other Republican members of the Subcommittee are: Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH); Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO); and, Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
