Democrats should oppose any subpoenas issued by Kevin McCarthy. That’s what he did | Opinion

If Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy becomes the next speaker of the House of Representatives, he has promised to launch numerous investigations into Democratic-led initiatives as a way to “stop the Biden agenda.”

Should he subpoena any House Democrats in any of his “investigations,” they know what to do:

Nothing.

House Democrats should not comply with a single thing that McCarthy or any other Republican committee leader asks. Why? Because that is the very way McCarthy and others conducted themselves when subpoenaed by the House’s Jan. 6 committee.

In two weeks the new Congress will be sworn in. On that day the next speaker will be chosen. By virtue of victories in the November election, Republicans take over as the party in control of the House. So the speakership and all committee chair assignments will switch from the Democrats to the GOP.

McCarthy is working furiously right now to line up support to become the next speaker. Assume he takes that role. He has already said he will look into what he calls “an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” of the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland. He and fellow Republicans are up in arms about border security, the federal government’s COVID response, and some even want to bring impeachment proceedings against President Biden.

To the degree any House Democrats get subpoenaed, they should sit on the hands and not budge an inch. Here’s why:

In May the Jan. 6 committee asked McCarthy and four other Republican House members to give depositions as the committee looked into the riot that took place that day on Capitol Hill, during which lawmakers were threatened while trying to certify the Electoral College results.

How did McCarthy and his colleagues respond? By blowing off the committee and refusing to comply. As a result, their information, which may have been helpful, was withheld.

The committee said Monday that McCarthy and the others “should be questioned in a public forum about their advance knowledge of and role in President Trump’s plan to prevent the peaceful transition of power.”

McCarthy was upset over the fact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disqualified two Republicans from serving on the committee because she did not believe they would look at the facts fairly. As a result, McCarthy said the committee lacked legitimacy.

However, by doing so, he has set the model for Democrats to follow. Any hearings House Republicans mount in the new Congress can be declared illegitimate.

The Jan. 6 committee has asked the House Ethics Committee to consider penalizing him. It would take a majority vote to do that, and since the Ethics Committee has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, that is probably not going to happen.

No, the penalty McCarthy will face is if House Democrats defy his subpoenas. Of course, that is a horrible standard to follow. Denying subpoenas is a bad step. It does not allow government to function. It is not how elected officials or citizens are to act.

But it would be payback.