GOP chairmen resist hearings on white supremacy

[DonViejo]

By KYLE CHENEY and RACHAEL BADE 08/15/2017 06:34 PM EDT

Days after neo-Nazis and white nationalists led a deadly march through Charlottesville — and are beginning to organize again — Republican leaders in Congress appear to be in no hurry to tackle the issue beyond statements of condemnation.

Many GOP lawmakers called Saturday’s march and the killing of a 32-year-old woman an act of “domestic terrorism.” And dozens of members took issue Tuesday with President Donald Trump's claim that "both sides" were to blame for violence. But there was little urgency for congressional action among committee leaders and top GOP brass.

Despite House Democrats' calls for hearings on the rise of white supremacy, the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Department of Justice’s handling of domestic terrorism, has no immediate plans to schedule one, aides say. The House Homeland Security Committee is lumping the issue into an annual “global threats” hearing scheduled sometime in September. And while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has suggested hearings in the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has no plans to call for one focused on the events in Charlottesville.

GOP leaders, meanwhile, aren’t leaning on their allies to hold public sessions or launch inquiries. Speaker Paul Ryan’s office deferred questions on potential congressional action to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and would not say whether the speaker believes action is warranted. McCarthy has been out of the country but intends to discuss the matter with panel chairmen. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office indicated that it’s up to individual committee chairs to set their own hearing schedule.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/republicans-hearings-white-supremacy-241664

[dalton99a]

1. They are white supremacists themselves.

[Blaukraut]

2. Trump's base is their base too

They know they'll never get any minorities to vote for them in significant numbers so they're forced to dance with "them what brung" them.

[bdamomma]

3. well more people will be flooding into their

offices, they will not be turned away from the truth, let them have town halls now fucking cowards. I hate republicans and what they are doing to this country.

[procon]

4. Well of course the Republicans aren't going to launch any inquiries

about the rise of rightwing domestic terrorism and the normalization of white power groups. They are enabling all these groups. They are giving them a wink and a nod and a free pass to carry on promoting hate. Republicans have invited white supremacists into the White House and they have given these hate groups a microphone in the public squares of American cities.