Leadership Shift in the House China Select Committee Could Cripple Congress Anti-China Momentum

Table Of Content

• Office Locations
• Ranking Member Himes Statement on Passage of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act
• Swalwell Appointed to Serve on Intelligence Committee
• Anti-Israel protesters crash WH Correspondents Dinner red carpet, mob celebs and chant 'f--k Joe Biden' in DC anarchy
• Ashlyn Harris and Sophia Bush make red carpet debut at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
• ‘Rivers in the sky’ have drenched California, yet even more extreme rains are possible

The final report of the Pike Committee was never officially published due to Congressional opposition. CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr was called to testify before Congress, but refused to divulge his source.[2] Major portions of the report were published by The Village Voice, and a full copy of the draft was published in England. Today, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (OH-10) held a full committee open panel with former members of the House Intellig...

Office Locations

On Monday evening, McCarthy announced the GOP members who will serve on the Intelligence Committee, including the newly added Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita.) The speaker gave no indication about when he would announce his decision on the panel’s Democratic members. Employees who reported sexual assault and harassment saw “little to no accountability or punishment for the perpetrators,” the committee’s report said. The House Intelligence Committee found the CIA botched its response to reports of sexual assault and harassment inside the agency, with victims forced to navigate a process marked by “confusion and disorder,” according to an investigation by lawmakers. Prior to establishing the permanent select committee in 1977, the House of Representatives established the "Select Committee on Intelligence", commonly referred to as the "Pike Committee", so named after its last chairman, Otis G. Pike of New York. The select committee had originally been established in February 1975 under the chairmanship of Congressman Lucien Nedzi of Michigan. Following Nedzi's resignation in June, the committee was reconstituted with Pike as chair, in July 1975, with its mandate expiring January 31, 1976.

Ranking Member Himes Statement on Passage of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries renominated two California Democrats to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, setting up a clash with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over committee assignments he has vowed to block. “Our Committee has put in place significant legislative reforms to address failures, and we will continue to monitor progress to ensure there is no slippage in the Agency’s commitment to addressing sexual assault and harassment,” Turner and Himes said. “This investigative report and the legislation it spurred have their origin in the bravery of a young female trainee with the integrity to speak truth to power at the cost of her own CIA career to try and prevent other agency women from suffering as she did,” Carroll said. The CIA later terminated the female employee, who had reported being sexually assaulted in a stairwell at the agency and who accused the CIA of trying to discourage her from filing a criminal complaint. Her lawyer claimed it amounted to unlawful retaliation, but the CIA strongly rejected the allegation.

Swalwell Appointed to Serve on Intelligence Committee

At the same time, aggressive oversight is critical to ensuring that their activities, often conducted in secret, are consistent with our constitutional and moral values. The hallmark of the China committee, as fervently emphasized by its former chairman Gallagher, is its commitment to bipartisanship. First, a third of Democrats opposed the panel, and even among those who supported it, concerns were raised about the potential for partisan divergence. While his efforts to form a bipartisan China Task Force that focused on the origins of COVID-19 faltered, McCarthy pulled off the establishment of the House China panel despite the Republicans’ razor-thin majority following the 2022 midterm elections.

House Intel Chair Turner warns of 'serious national security threat,' urges Biden to declassify - Fox News

House Intel Chair Turner warns of 'serious national security threat,' urges Biden to declassify.

Posted: Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

In stark contrast, Moolenaar openly supports Trump and endorsed the former president’s bid to return to the White House shortly after Trump announced his candidacy. While Moolenaar was among the Republicans who diverged from Trump on the TikTok ban, this deviation is understandable given the ban’s widespread acceptance within the GOP, and Trump’s last-minute opposition to the China-tied app was totally insufficient to change such momentum. Given Moolenaar’s consistent support for Trump’s China policies in the past, it is unlikely that he would publicly challenge Trump over China policy if the latter were to re-enter the White House. Trump’s growing grip on the GOP has led to fewer Republican politicians publicly criticizing him, potentially impacting the China committee’s operations.

McCarthy has argued that Swalwell couldn’t get a security clearance in the private sector following a report that he was targeted by a suspected Chinese spy, with whom he later cut ties. Today, the House Intelligence Committee released a declassified report examining the Intelligence Community's response to the COVID-19 pandemic following a two-... Washington, DC — Today, the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Jim Himes (CT-04), announced subcommittee assignments for th... The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence launched an investigation into the CIA’s response to sex-related offenses after a female employee approached lawmakers in January 2023 alleging she had been sexually assaulted and harassed.

After she came forward, more than 20 other employees followed, saying they had suffered sexual assaults and harassment. The Committee makes recommendations to the Senate Armed Services Committee on authorizations for the intelligence-related components of the U.S. The Committee also conducts periodic investigations, audits, and inspections of intelligence activities and programs.

‘Rivers in the sky’ have drenched California, yet even more extreme rains are possible

As one of the bill’s original cosponsors, Adam has been a consistent champion of the Green New Deal, which would combat climate change, invest in clean energy, and create a green economy in California and across the country. Throughout his time in Congress, Adam has pushed to preserve and protect the Rim of the Valley Corridor by adding almost 200,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to protect natural resources and habitats around the Los Angeles basin for generations to come. Adam has also worked with the local community to protect constituents from increased noise from helicopters and airplanes and to secure funding to help restore the Los Angeles River. A spokesperson said it has taken a number of steps to improve how it responds to sexual assault complaints and praised a new law that allowed the agency to expand the office handling sexual misconduct cases. From its outset, however, the panel appeared more as a GOP-driven initiative against the backdrop of escalating China-U.S.

Adam has advanced efforts to protect the freedom of the press by authorizing the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, as well as legislation to prevent the proliferation of nuclear material. Adam has always believed that small businesses are the true engine of growth, and he continues to fight to enact tax relief for small businesses, create good-paying jobs, and restore America as a manufacturing powerhouse. He was an early advocate for the expansion of Medi-Cal to ensure low-income children and families, pregnant women, and people with disabilities have access to free or low-cost quality health care in the state of California. Adam also is a cosponsor of Medicare for All and continues to fight for expanded access to health care for all. In 2023, Adam secured more than $13.7 million in federal funding to address homelessness and food insecurity, local education, and improve public health and safety programs within his district.

In an effort to address these doubts and concerns, Gallagher, as the committee’s chairman, tirelessly worked across the aisle to advance a tough-on-China agenda. As a result of the reports of sexual assault and harassment, lawmakers passed legislation last year designed to fix gaps in how the CIA handles sexual assault cases, requiring it to set up a standard sexual misconduct investigation procedure and annual reports to Congress. Despite the fact that Gallagher’s replacement, Republican Representative John Moolenaar, shares a longstanding stance as a China hawk, the productivity of the China committee under his leadership may not match its previous levels. Consequently, the shift in the committee’s leadership could potentially hinder Washington’s anti-Beijing momentum, stemming from three key aspects.

Gallagher stood out as one of the few open critics of Trump within the Republicans, capable of pursuing his agenda while heading off mounting pressure from Trumpism. If the former president is reelected in November, his dollar-driven approach to Beijing is very likely to clash with the committee’s principle of comprehensive confrontation across all dimensions, as evidenced by Trump’s abrupt reversal from supporting to opposing the TikTok ban. Second, the committee’s future effectiveness is increasingly impacted by the escalating internecine tussle within the GOP. Last year, internal discord within the party presented itself multiple times over how to confront Beijing, particularly regarding issues such as the complete revocation of China’s “permanent normal trade relations” (PNTR) status. On the contrary, although Moolenaar serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, he lacks a role as a defense appropriator. Furthermore, there is limited evidence showcasing his ability to leverage diverse resources to promote crucial security-related legislation.

While House Republicans held a slim majority at the time, they were able to persuade conservative and moderate Democrats – who may have remained neutral on China in another time – to rally behind the establishment of a tough-on-China committee. The White House’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan expressed frustration Wednesday with Turner’s public airing of the matter when the Gang of Eight was due to be briefed Thursday. The intelligence committee voted to make its contents available to all House members this week, the source added — assuring the mysterious alert’s substance would quickly become public knowledge due to the notoriously loose-lipped membership of that chamber.

As part of its oversight responsibilities, the Committee performs an annual review of the intelligence budget submitted by the president and prepares legislation authorizing appropriations for the various civilian and military agencies and departments comprising the intelligence community. The BIOSECURE Act was written by leaders of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, in response to fears that Chinese biotechnology companies could threaten U.S. national security if they give the Chinese government access to sensitive health information about Americans. Widely regarded as a rising star on Capitol Hill, Gallagher earned a reputation as a serious legislator deeply committed to national security issues. Under his leadership, the committee organized numerous hearings, facilitating thorough, sometimes even contentious, exchanges of views on various aspects of the China challenge, spanning economic, security, political, and cultural dimensions. “Last month, I sent a letter to the White House requesting a meeting with the president to discuss a serious national security issue that is classified,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. As a former federal prosecutor, Schiff has worked to improve public safety and end the scourge of gun violence, with an emphasis on smart, cost-effective solutions, as well as a leader pushing for criminal justice reform.