WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), released the following statement regarding Chairman Johnson’s repeated attempts to use the time and resources of a Senate Committee to advance political objectives.

“The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the Senate’s primary oversight committee charged with studying ‘the efficiency, economy and effectiveness’ of all agencies across the federal government. And yet, as our country faces unprecedented health, economic, social justice and climate crises, Chairman Johnson is continuing to use this Committee’s time and resources to pursue partisan investigations based on conspiracy theories and disinformation. This reckless attempt to leverage our Committee’s significant authority for political gain would make a former crusading senator from Wisconsin proud.

“This morning, Chairman Johnson will, once again, ask the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to authorize partisan subpoenas on topics our Committee has already debated and voted on twice since the spring. However, in Chairman Johnson’s rush to complete his so-called investigation to maximize its impact on the November election, errors were, unsurprisingly, made. So, now, the Chairman is using more official time to ask the Committee to give him even broader authority to conduct this blatantly political errand. As someone who once had the privilege of chairing this esteemed Committee, I am deeply troubled and frustrated to see what our Committee is being used for, especially when there are countless pressing issues within our jurisdiction that deserve our attention. 

“At a time when nearly 200,000 American lives have been lost to a virus that continues to spread across our country, it is HSGAC that should be working on pandemic preparedness, just like our Committee did when it came to the Avian flu and Ebola. At a time when yet another life-threatening hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, and while the West Coast experiences the worst fires in its history, it is HSGAC that should be hearing from FEMA and finding ways to help communities recover from these climate-related disasters. At a time when we are reading horrifying, barbaric reports of hysterectomies being performed on migrants detained at ICE facilities, it is HSGAC that should be getting much-needed answers from officials. 

“While Chairman Johnson calls yet another business meeting to advance untruths and foreign propaganda, the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which I serve as the lead Democrat, will be holding a hearing on the role of the federal government in protecting the waters we all share and providing states and businesses with the certainty and predictability they need. Today, I will be attending that hearing to do the work that the people of Delaware sent me to Washington to do, rather than be party to this political spectacle. While doing so, I would, once again, urge all of our  Republican colleagues to disavow attempts to spread disinformation put forth by a hostile foreign power and, instead, prioritize the important work that the American people need us to do now more than ever.”