White House Tells GOP They Don’t Have to Comply With Oversight Requests Until They’re in Majority Next Month

The Biden administration stated to top-ranking Republican Congressmen Thursday that the White House was not constitutionally required to comply with their oversight request as the minority party. They must submit the requests again next month, when they will be in the majority. 

Richard Sauber, the administration attorney, sent Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky. This is a serious blow because both men are involved in an investigation. made multiple executive branch requests According to Politico.

The oversight powers of Congress do not apply “individual members of Congress who are not committee chairmen, and the House has not done so under its current Rules,” This means that the Republicans’ demands are not ones “to which the constitutional accommodation obligations” require the White House to respond, Sauber wrote.

Except during congressional hearings, the Biden administration had mostly ignored Republican oversight requests. Now, the GOP must restart the requests when they are in the majority next Congress, when Jordan will be House Judiciary Committee chair and Comer will be House Oversight chair.

The lawyer pledged to answer any additional requests “in good faith.”