Republicans Take Education Fight To Voters With Congress Slow To Act

Republicans at the federal and state levels are preparing for a 2022 midterm season focused on holding Democrats accountable at the federal and local levels, particularly on issues related to education.

Republican members of Congress are expressing frustration with Democrat-led committees that have held a limited number of hearings on the Biden administration. The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, has held only 35 hearings in 2021, according to an internal GOP document reviewed by the Daily Caller. However, in 2019, the first year of the Trump administration that Democrats controlled committees, the Oversight Committee held 80 hearings, according to the document.

“Under Democrat leadership, the House Oversight and Reform Committee is refusing to hold President Biden accountable and meet its core mission of identifying and preventing government waste, fraud, and abuse. Republicans have demanded dozens of hearings and investigations into important issues facing this country—nearly all requests have fallen on deaf ears. Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight. Democrats are flunking out of Congress by failing to do their job. Meanwhile, Republicans will continue to push forward on our Committee’s mission to ensure our government is transparent and accountable to the American people,” Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who sits on both the House Oversight and Education and Labor committees, told the Daily Caller.

While they are sending letters and requests for briefings and documents, Republicans are open about the fact that they will have little power unless they take control of either the House or the Senate in 2022. They are hoping that education, traditionally a local issue, will galvanize suburban swing voters, many of whom supported Democrats over the last few election cycles.

A recent memo sent by Attorney General Merrick Garland directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct meetings with local law enforcement officials about “threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff” is nationalizing the issue, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Mike Berg told the Daily Caller.

“Democrats and their teachers union donors have resorted to painting concerned parents standing up for their children as terrorists. Voters will hold them accountable in the midterms,” he said.

Congressional Republicans have sent multiple letters requesting information from the Biden administration about Garland’s memo. How... (Read more)

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