Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) sent a letter to Chairperson Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) following the approval request from House Judiciary Committee Democrats to violate bipartisan House committee rules by delegating their official duties to a political consultant and substituting him as official staff.

"The Committee on House Administration writes and maintains the rules that govern how committees and Members of Congress use their official funds and resources. The Committee's Congressional Handbook - official regulations for committees approved by House Administration in a bipartisan fashion - clearly states consultants are not considered employees of the committee and may not perform 'regular and normal duties of committee staff'," said Ranking Member Davis. "The Democrats' have already violated committee regulations once since they took the majority by allowing political consultants to substitute as staff and question multiple witnesses during congressional hearings. Now, they want to continue violating the rules in order to solely further their political agenda of flagrantly attacking the President.

Davis continued saying, "This second attempt to blatantly violate House regulations is unacceptable, and the Democratic majority must be held accountable. Democrats should not be allowed to continue putting their political priorities ahead of their official conduct within the House of Representatives. I am voting to deny the contract for this political consultant and advise that if the Judiciary Committee wants to substitute consultants as staff, then they should be transparent and quit outsourcing impeachment responsibilities, hire them as official staff, and ensure that all applicable disclosure of conflicts is not hidden from the American taxpayer as it has been for the last year."

Background:

U.S. House of Representatives Committee's Congressional Handbook:

Consultants
Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. § 4301, each Committee is authorized, with the prior approval of the Committee on House Administration, to obtain temporary or intermittent services of individual consultants or organizations, to advise the Committee with respect to matters within its jurisdiction.

The consultant is to act as an independent contractor and is not an employee of the Committee. The Committee on House Administration will not approve a contract if the services to be provided by the consultant are the regular and normal duties of Committee staff.

Background on Political Consultant:

Barry H. Berke
Partner at Kramer Levin (NYC)
Political Involvement

• Per FEC website, has given nearly $105k to Democrat campaigns and committees
• "On liberal websites late last year, lawyers Norman Eisen and Barry H. Berke depicted Mr. Trump as a criminal and a liar as they floated conspiracy scenarios." – Washington Examiner (3/6/19)

View the letter by clicking here.

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