Top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa is urging his combative foil on the House Oversight Committee, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, to join him in finding burdensome regulations that are impeding economic growth.
In a Jan. 24 letter to Cummings, Issa points to a new website he launched Jan. 20 soliciting input from entrepreneurs nation-wide for their input on “Where does Washington help, and where does it hurt?”
“I sincerely hope that you will join with me in encouraging job creators in your district and across America to visit this website, so that their ideas and suggestions can be heard,” Issa says in the letter.
Issa’s gesture to Cummings comes after Cummings blasted Issa for sending a series of letters to a wide array industry trade associations and other policy organizations asking for input on which of the Obama administration’s regulations were hurting the economy and needed additional oversight.
Cummings said the letters were tantamount to “inviting businesses to tell us what they want us to do as opposed to protecting the American people.”
Issa pointed to President Obama’s recent overtures to business groups, including several high-profile meetings with CEOs and asked: Since when is it inappropriate to reach out to business?
“Where were all of Cummings’s and the DNC’s outrage and concern when the president had a CEO roundtable a few weeks ago or the potential inclusion of Bill Daley into the administration for the reported purpose of his relationships with private industry?” said Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella.
The dust-up is an early sign Democrats plan to aggressively attack Issa head-on now that he holds the power of congressional subpoena, granting him almost unlimited power to access the administration’s written documents and compel testimony of key officials.
Issa and Cummings are also meeting together this morning.