"The GOP Plan To Investigate Obama: The First Four Potential Investigations" [View All]

[Clio the Leo]

The GOP Plan To Investigate Obama: The First Four Potential Investigations
Ryan J. Reilly and Johanna Barr | November 3, 2010, 10:37AM

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. Until now, as just the ranking members of two powerful House committees and members of the minority party, their criticisms of administration officials and their decisions have been mostly limited to issuing press releases.

Now -- as the expected chairmen of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee, respectively -- they're the proud new holders of subpoena power, will have a much more robust unit of investigators and will likely be a huge thorn in the side of President Obama and his top cabinet members.

Issa already laid out his agenda in a blueprint plan he released earlier this year. He told reporters in a conference call in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that his responsibility was "very broad" but that his job wasn't to bring down Obama. "I have a lot of questions that have not been answered," he said.

Smith, on the other, has grilled Attorney General Eric Holder over immigration enforcement -- including Holder's comments on the Arizona immigration law -- as well as for his handling of terrorism trials in civilian court and the attempts to close Guantanamo Bay ("We have no speculation for you at this time on what effect the mid-term election may or may not have on this issue," DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd told TPMMuckraker about the Gitmo issue yesterday).

Holder seems to know what he's in for from Smith. "Lamar, will you be nice to me after January?" Holder asked the Texas Republican, Smith recalled.

"In the House Judiciary Committee, we will focus on initiatives that protect Americans and create jobs, including strengthening national security, enforcing immigration laws, protecting intellectual property, preventing frivolous lawsuits and keeping children safe from sex predators," Smith said in a statement Wednesday.

Here are a few of the controversies you can expect to hear more about in the next two years.

1. New Black Panther Party

2. Joe Sestak's Job Offer

3. ACORN's Offspring

4. BP Oil Spill

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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/the_gop_plan_to_investigate_obama_the_first_four_potential_investigations.php