Thursday, April 14, 2011

The second worst hearing of the week

Not content to blast basic workers' rights today, the Oversight Committee will be playing host to one of its most absurd hearings yet -- and frankly we're still trying to figure out what the heck is going on. On Friday, a joint subcommittee hearing will explore whether environmental laws and regulations are impeding border security. Led by Glenn Beck golden boy Jason Chaffetz, this sounds like a hearing to see if Republicans can pin illegal immigration on environmental protections.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Waste, hypocrisy, a reality check, and fail from Issa

One of the earliest concerns about Issa's plans for 'a hearing a day' was that all those document requests would eat up large amounts of staff time. Specifically, that if Issa ended up consistently going fishing, he would create the sorts of efficiency problems he was trying to find. Against that backdrop is recent news that the Department of Homeland Security tasked a 21-person team to handle document requests from Issa.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

General public squarely at odds with Issa, industry friends

Darrell Issa took to Twitter last week, trumpeting a report from the conservative American Enterprise Institute analyzing into graph form the responses Issa received from industry groups criticizing industry regulations. The AEI report highlighted what Issa and his carefully-orchestrated hearing already had been saying: polluting industries have strong objections to EPA regulations that attempt to control pollution.

What it leaves out though, is... everyone else.

Friday, February 18, 2011

CLCV: Issa no friend of the environment, but where are the solutions for his district?

The League of Conservation Voters rolled out their annual scorecard yesterday, with the California LCV zeroing in on the California delegation -- and Darrell Issa in particular. Their findings help quantify what we already know: Darrell Issa continues to take a pass on common sense solutions for his district in favor of harmful, conservative partisanship.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A decade of ineffective oversight

In a report being released today, the General Accounting Office finds concerns that the Interior Department "may be unable to manage oil and gas leases while overhauling the agencies and offices responsible for them" in the wake of the Gulf oil spill last year. Darrell Issa is quoted in the article criticizing the GAO for not having raised the alarm before the spill, implying that his own record on the issue is stronger and taking to Twitter last night to continue his criticisms. Reality is decidedly less convincing on that point however.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Double Talk from Issa Enterprises

Last week, Darrell Issa received widespread criticism for the one-sided nature of his regulatory hearings. Today, Issa took to Twitter to begin trying to walk back his rhetoric on 'job-killing' regulations. Today, Issa began rolling out the revised spin from Issa Enterprises- that the goal of the hearings is "Finding right balance btw job-crushing gov't regulation & protecting Americans health/safety." Certainly that should be the goal, but none of the substance thus far can reasonably be seen as in pursuit of this.

Friday, February 11, 2011

House votes to do its job

The House today passed a measure "which directs 10 House committees to review whether federal regulations are impeding job growth"... for some reason:

Friday, February 11, 2011

Meeting Rena

Late last week, we at IssaWatch were fortunate to meet Rena---a mother, and small business owner, and one of the hundreds of thousands of CA-49 residents that Darrell Issa has not asked to help determine the priorities of the House Government Oversight Committee.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Issa convenes Oversight hearing to criticize worker, environmental safeguards

Darrell Issa and the Oversight Committee held the main event this morning, convening a hearing to discuss government regulation and responses to Issa's letter to corporate and industry organizations.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

EPA moves to center stage

The frontal assault on the EPA began in earnest today, with Reps. Fred Upton and Ed Whistfield dropping a draft bill that actually seeks to repeal science.