Darrell Issa

Cummings and Issa Clash At First Oversight Committee Hearing (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 26, 2011, 11:30AM

Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) clashed over opening statements at the first hearing of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Both sides say Issa told Cummings 30 minutes before today's hearing that there would be no opening statements issued at the hearing, which focused on government oversight over money distributed under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Spokesman Kurt Bardella told TPM that Issa killed the idea of opening statements in order to skip the "political speechifying" which ate up time. "The American people wants Congress to listen more and talk less," Bardella said.

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Darrell Issa

Cummings: We'll Stop Any Issa 'Witchhunts' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2011, 3:40PM

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) -- the man Democrats chose to go toe-to-toe with incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) -- is making the rounds on cable news and showing off the aggressive style that helped him win the spot.

Cummings said that he expects to see the tougher version of Issa -- in other words, not the Issa who walked back his harshest statements and said he wanted to work with the administration -- and said his staff is ready for an "avalanche of subpoenas coming out and all kinds of inquires" similar to what happened during the Clinton administration.

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