Today, Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) sent a letter to Chair Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) highlighting recently conducted roundtables and forums advertised as official committee proceedings. These discussions were posted under official committee hearings on the majority website, came without invitation or notice to Republican members, and sought executive branch witnesses. 

“Under normal circumstances prior to the pandemic, you and your staff often used “roundtables” and “forums” as a supplement to official Committee proceedings. To my knowledge, these were exclusively partisan affairs that mostly catered to special interest groups… With an absence of regularly scheduled official Committee meetings, however, these partisan roundtables have become the exclusive public function of the Committee.

“Instead of adopting a more collaborative process during this trying time, you appear to use the circumstances of a crisis to circumvent transparency and avoid opposing viewpoints. This is an institutional disservice to the House and degrades the Committee. I urge you to take a step back and identify a better approach.”

Read the full letter HERE.