McCarthy: Pelosi playing politics by creating COVID-19 oversight committee
House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy says lawmakers should be focused on taking care of the coronavirus crisis instead of creating 'redundant' oversight measures.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., should be focused on providing coronavirus relief to the American people instead of more partisan politics regarding oversight entities, House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urged Friday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with host Steve Doocy, McCarthy said that the creation of Pelosi's new House Oversight Committee -- with subpoena power -- in response to the administration's handling of COVID-19 is a political ploy in her own interests only.
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"You have the Oversight Committee -- that's all they focus on. But, in the last bill that we just passed -- the CARES Act -- we created three new oversight entities, right?" he remarked. "We created the pandemic oversight that is a setup of inspector generals...We created a special individual who will be appointed by the president [and] confirmed by the Senate. And then, we actually created a congressional oversight that is appointed by all the leaders from Schumer to McConnell to Pelosi and myself. This is redundant."
McCarthy added that what is "most telling" in Pelosi's ambitions is who she had appointed.
"She didn't go with the Oversight Committee Chair -- her own -- she appointed [James] Clyburn. And, remember what Clyburn said [as] her Majority Whip? He said that this is a time to restructure into their vision: government. This isn't about oversight. It sounds like pure politics," he remarked.
"Really, the speaker should be focused on what we need to deliver to the American public," he continued further. "Let's take care of the crisis at hand right now. We have five different oversights already looking at this and this is what she comes up with?"
McCarthy told Doocy that Pelosi is also inserting her own personal interests into discussions about a Phase 4 emergency infrastructure relief bill -- including facets that were removed from the Phase 3 stimulus bill signed by President Trump last week.
In a statement on the committee provided to "Fox & Friends" on Thursday, Pelosi said that the new bipartisan Oversight Committee would "help save lives and taxpayer dollars in real-time" instead of after it's "too late to make a difference."
"And, that's something everyone should welcome," she asserted.
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"Well, that's just not true," McCarthy replied.
"It seems to me that this is just politics as usual instead of [being focused] on the crisis that we need to be today, delivering for the American public, [and] making sure we are getting the resources to them," he concluded.
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