Inside Jim Clyburn’s agenda for investigating — and influencing — coronavirus spending
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn is setting an expansive, ambitious agenda for his new role in policing the use of federal money surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and influencing spending priorities relating to the virus.
In a 50-minute phone interview with The State on Saturday, the South Carolina Democrat laid out, for the first time, his priorities for the new oversight panel of which he will serve as chairman.
His far-reaching vision for the Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis comes at a time when the year’s congressional schedule is in flux, with social-distancing mandates clouding the forecast for if and when lawmakers will resume committee business — and how exactly that would work.
It also comes as Clyburn has come under attack by Republicans accusing him of suggesting the crisis be leveraged to advance partisan priorities, which could undermine the work of the committee he’s been chosen to lead.
The committee was formally created by the U.S. House on Thursday in a strictly party-line vote.
But Clyburn, who is drawing inspiration for his own panel from the committee then-Sen. Harry Truman ran to police use of federal funds spent during World War II, insisted that “we are not here to score political points.”
“The legislative branch has a role to play in oversight,” he said. “I would hope that this committee will function with that in mind ... We are there to ensure the American people maintain confidence in their government. We need that now more than ever in my lifetime.”
At the top of the Clyburn’s list for the committee are investigations into the biggest controversies of the moment, like how publicly-traded companies, like the Ruth’s Chris Steak House restaurant conglomerate, were able to help exhaust the $349 billion government loan program specifically intended for small businesses decimated by the pandemic.
Then there are less obvious inquiries, such as whether states are wisely using their allocations from a $400 million fund to expand mail-in voting to alleviate health concerns about voting in-person.
Clyburn said he wanted the committee to vet the implementation, and consequences, of certain provisions that have just been signed into law through new coronavirus response legislation.
He argued, for instance, that the committee should take a “hard look” at whether bankrupt companies ought to be prohibited from accessing new government loans, saying that some bankrupt organizations in the process of financial restructuring should be treated with more leniency than those that are liquidating their assets.
And he said the committee could advise federal health authorities on what is necessary to address the discrepancies in who is contracting and dying from COVID-19. Minority communities are currently bearing the brunt of fatalities.
Clyburn also signaled he could use the committee to bolster some of his biggest legislative priorities. For example, the panel could make the case that funding the expansion of broadband capacity in under-served areas around the country would help close the gaps in health care and education that have been widened by the crisis.
In this way, the committee as Clyburn sees it could take on an advisory role as the federal government decides where and how to spend its money.
“This committee needs to be up and running soon to inform the Congress as to how to prepare itself for what may be a second outbreak in the fall,” he explained. “If there is a second outbreak in the fall, what is going to happen to our health-care delivery system? Will we have done anything to improve that?
“I would say there are two things we can do,” Clyburn continued. “Number one, you ought to have mobile testing. Number two, we ought to have 100% coverage of broadband.”
‘No precedent’
But if Clyburn sees the committee’s role as advocating for specific spending decisions, he could have to tread carefully.
In recent weeks, he has come under attack by Republicans for saying the pandemic presented “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision,” suggesting to conservative critics that Democrats wanted to use the crisis to force passage of new laws from an ideological wish list.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, accused Clyburn of political maneuvering during a floor speech on Thursday, when lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill for one day to approve more money in response to the crisis.
During those remarks, he openly challenged Clyburn’s appointment as the new committee’s chairman, saying it proved that the panel was just a Democratic excuse to go after President Donald Trump and Republicans in an election year.
Clyburn told The State on Saturday he was not surprised by McCarthy’s comments, but they “disappointed me tremendously.”
He delivered a lengthy list of bipartisan legislative accomplishments that have required him to work with colleagues on the other side of the aisle — including during Republican-controlled congresses — and disputed that his own misgivings about the Trump administration would motivate his leadership of the committee now.
“Absolutely not,” Clyburn said when asked whether the committee’s creation was a direct response to Democrats’ distrust of the president. “If it were a Democrat sitting in the White House, I would think that this committee will still need to function because it’s not about who is sitting in the White House. It’s about how this program is being implemented.”
He did, however, note that Trump’s decision to fire the inspector general originally put in charge of a separate, bipartisan coronavirus federal spending commission underscored the importance of the House’s effort.
He also acknowledged Democrats were disturbed by Trump’s declaration in response to questions from the media that he alone would provide the oversight of new, massive federal spending programs.
“Wait a minute,” Clyburn said. “Wait a minute. Come on. So that’s the kind of thing we’re talking about here.”
Ultimately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will select the six other Democrats to serve on the panel — technically a subcommittee operating under the auspices of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform —with McCarthy tasked with choosing five Republicans.
Clyburn said the panel’s staff would be comprised of aides borrowed from the larger committee or detailed from his personal and leadership offices. He could also ask trusted former aides to return to work for him in this capacity.
He could not offer a timetable for when the committee would be up in running, nor could he say how it could achieve such an ambitious portfolio given the current limitations of the moment. Still in question: When will members be back on Capitol Hill to hold hearings? Will hearings start to be held by video conference? How will lawmakers hold votes to subpoena certain documents?
“I would like for this committee to be up and functioning in the very near future,” he said. “Time is of the essence here. We need to look at what’s going on so the American people can see what is going on.”
But, he added, “there is no precedent here.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
