It looks like the GOP holdouts that refused to vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, along with the others that struck a tough negotiating line with McCarthy before the vote debacle, actually won some important changes, as now the GOP is going to take the left’s weaponization of government seriously and fight against it.
That fight will take the form of a new Select Committee chaired by Jim Jordan and meant to look into the “Weaponization of Government”, particularly the government’s collusion with Big Tech to censor stories and dissidents. The Post Millenial, reporting on what the Select Committee will investigate, reported that:
The 118th House of Representatives will see the formation of a new select committee, headed by Jim Jordan, to dig into the abuse of power and the Weaponization of Government. This investigative panel will demand emails and correspondence between the Biden administration and big tech companies, and follows the massive revelations that came to light through the recent release of the Twitter Files.
According to Axios, the Select Committee was part of the deal that hardline conservatives in Congress struck with Kevin McCarthy in exchange for voting for him to become Speaker of the House.
Axios goes on to report that the new Select Committee, which will be called the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, will be aimed at dragging information out of the Big Tech companies and those in the Biden Administration that colluded with them to censor conservatives. In its words:
- The probe into communications between tech giants and President Biden’s aides will look for government pressure that could have resulted in censorship or harassment of conservatives — or squelching of debate on polarizing policies, including the CDC on COVID.
- The request for documents will be followed by “compulsory processes,” including subpoenas if needed, a GOP source tells Axios.
And that’s not all. While the Select Subcommittee will remain focused on that collusion between Team Biden and Big Tech, Axios reports that it will also take on both the weaponized FBI and Anthony Fauci’s role in Covid-related censorship operations. As it reports:
The subcommittee’s top target is what Republicans call “the politicization of the FBI,” including scrutiny of the investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
- The subcommittee also will look into Anthony Fauci and his approach to COVID misinformation and disinformation … the Justice Department’s interaction with local school boards on masking and other COVID policies … and the Department of Homeland Security’s failed effort to create a Disinformation Governance Board.
So, though the GOP’s majority is quite thin, it looks like the pressure campaign against McCarthy by the hardliners means that the GOP might actually do what the base wants and go after those behind many of the attacks on conservatives and conservative thought in recent years.
Further, the fact that the Select Subcommittee will be headed by Rep. Jim Jordan, a McCarthy ally who is also favored by the hardliners, means it might be effective in rallying larger GOP support for taking action against those it finds to have participated in the weaponization of the government.