Harris and Walz face swarm of House GOP probes, hearings
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a rally in Pennsylvania on Aug. 6. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
House Republicans are set to devote much of their last three weeks in session before the election to targeting Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz with investigations, hearings — and potentially more.
Why it matters: House Republicans have spent the better part of the last two years investigating President Biden, which went to waste in July when he withdrew from the race.
- Some Republicans fear that overzealous oversight into the Democratic ticket could backfire on the GOP politically.
What's happening: There are at least four House committee investigations currently underway into the Democratic ticket.
- House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is investigating Walz's ties to China and Harris' role in immigration policy.
- Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the chair of the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel, is investigating allegations that Walz misstated his service record.
- House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) subpoenaed Walz for documents on his handling of an alleged $250 million fraud scheme by a Minnesota-based nonprofit.
The other side: "Donald Trump and his extreme MAGA allies in the House are launching pathetic, false attacks on the vice president and Gov. Walz because they cannot win on their own records," said Harris campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg.
- Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios that Republicans "are just making themselves a complete adjunct to the Donald Trump campaign ... all of them simply do his bidding."
Zoom in: House committees are even starting to use "Biden-Harris" exclusively when naming hearings into the Biden administration.
- The House Veterans Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday on "VA Leadership Under the Biden-Harris Administration."
- The House Judiciary Committee is having a set of hearings on Tuesday into the "Biden-Harris border crisis."
- And the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold one on Wednesday focused on the "Biden-Harris energy agenda."
Compare that to hearings scheduled before Biden dropped out, including a joint hearing on July 23 that referred to the "Biden administration."
- The Judiciary Committee also held a hearing on June 26 called: "Follow the Science?: Oversight of the Biden Covid-19 Administrative State Response".
What to watch: Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced articles of impeachment against Harris shortly after President Biden dropped his re-election bid.
- He or any other right-wing hardliner could force a vote on that measure in September without GOP leadership's say-so.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to add comment from Raskin.
