- House Republicans accidentally gave Democrats a supermajority on a new panel they created.
- Under the resolution passed by Tuesday’s vote, Democrats would gain 9 seats on the 12-member panel.
- But the plan is actually to have 21 seats on the committee, and the error was eventually corrected.
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In an apparent blunder, House Republicans passed a resolution Tuesday that would give Democrats a supermajority on a new select subcommittee investigating government “weaponization.”
In a resolution that sought to expand the committee from 13 members to 21, the authors made an apparent typo that was first noted by Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
The resolution, proposed by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and passed by voice vote, states that the subcommittee will have “no more than 12” members and that “no more than 9 will be appointed in consultation with the Minority Leader.”
That would give Democrats a 9-3 supermajority. In reality, the plan is for the committee to have 12 Republicans and 9 Democrats, and the error will almost certainly be corrected before the committee meets.
“This is just the latest proof that this MAGA clown show was never serious,” a Democratic committee aide told Insider, reveling in the apparent typo.
The select subcommittee on federal firearms, which will be housed in the House Judiciary Committee and likely to be chaired by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, was first created by a House vote in January.
Every single Democrat voted against it.
The committee emerged as a result of Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker and was among the concessions he made to GOP hardliners. He has been given broad powers to investigate the executive branch — including the Justice Department and intelligence agencies — as well as private companies.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 1, 2023
On Wednesday, Republican Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania — the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives — passed an amended version of the resolution, correcting the issue.
February 1, 2023, 3:00 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to reflect that an amendment has passed that removes the Democratic supermajority and sets the number of committee members at 21.
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