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

Issa Wants Info On Homeland Security's FOIA Policy

Rachel Slajda | January 17, 2011, 12:05PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide documents related to its Freedom of Information Act policy -- a policy which had political appointees reviewing FOIA requests.

The Associated Press reported in July that political appointees working for Secretary Janet Napolitano were reviewing FOIA requests, gathering information about the requesters and, in some cases, delaying responses.

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