House Intel Committee plan to build physical wall is shelved

[DonViejo]

By OLIVIA VICTORIA GAZIS CBS NEWS March 8, 2018, 11:56 PM

A plan put forward by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee to build a physical wall to separate the staffs of the two parties has been put on hold, multiple committee sources tell CBS News, reviving hopes that the committee may regain -- or at least retain -- some of its bipartisan tradition.

The erstwhile spirit of bipartisanship in the committee has, in recent months, seemed all but extinguished as its members clashed repeatedly and with escalating rancor over the release of agenda-ridden surveillance memos, the sources of selective leaks to the media, and the investigatory priorities of the committee's ongoing probe into Russia's 2016 election interference.

Though no shortage of it has been public, much of the drama has played out in the committee's secure spaces, a sprawling, double-doored chamber of rooms marked by siren-red signs that indicate restricted access. At the far right end of those spaces – beyond where, on one side, members meet for routine business, and on the other, witnesses are questioned – the committee's Republican and Democrat staff sits and works in a windowless area, undivided but for printer stations and safes.

Last month, a permanent division between the staff seemed imminent, as committee Republicans, led by Chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, put forth plans to construct a physical barrier to separate the staff by party. Other committees, the argument went, also divide their staffs.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-intelligence-committee-physical-wall-plan-shelved/

[tanyev]

1. Snowflakes.