Molly Reynolds is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. She studies Congress, with an emphasis on how congressional rules and procedure affect domestic policy outcomes.
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Several proposed reforms would stop presidential administrations from using their informational advantages to circumvent the will of Congress.
The impeachment inquiry now moves to the House Judiciary Committee. What should we expect?
On Oct. 29, Chairman of the House Rules Committee James McGovern introduced House resolution H.Res.660, along with a fact sheet, outlining procedures going forward for the impeachment inquiry into the president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is approaching a fork in the road on the House’s impeachment inquiry. The White House has indicated an unwillingness to cooperate with the inquiry, and so the House has to decide whether to litigate or negotiate over documents and testimony or move forward without them. The House already possesses strong enough evidence to move to a vote on articles of impeachment, and Pelosi can decide to do so quickly.
On Sept. 9, the House Judiciary Committee released a draft copy of a “Resolution for Investigative Procedures Offered by Chairman Jerrold Nadler,” which outlines procedures that will apply to “the presentation of information in connection with the Committee’s investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Donald J.
The House of Representatives adopted a resolution on June 11 authorizing Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, to go to court to pursue civil enforcement of subpoenas issued to Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn. Importantly, however, the measure also makes changes that will increase the power of House committees to pursue enforcement of additional subpoenas.
As the confrontation escalates between the House of Representatives and the White House over the production of documents, the appearance of witnesses and compliance with congressional subpoenas, so too have calls for Democrats to initiate impeachment proceedings.