For Immediate Release: Monday, January 31, 2011
Contact: Jenny Rosenberg, 202-225-5051

(Washington, DC) – Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today sent letters to more than 100 industry representatives and other organizations, requesting copies of letters they sent in response to requests by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to identify regulations that negatively impact job growth.

The Chairman has repeatedly refused to share these industry responses with Democrats, despite repeated requests. (See January 24, 2011, letter). Instead, Chairman Issa has stated that he will withhold these documents until February 11, when he plans to release them publicly along with a Republican staff analysis. He stated:

"I have chosen to have my staff focus on receiving, organizing, and analyzing the responses to these letters. I expect to be able to make an initial analysis, as well as all responses received as of today, public no later than February 11, 2011."

In his letters today, Rep. Cummings explained that he is contacting these industry organizations independently to request copies of their responses. In addition, he stated:

"I fully support bipartisan efforts to improve federal regulations to increase job growth while preserving the core safeguards these regulations were intended to protect," said Rep. Cummings. "But since Chairman Issa has refused to provide Democrats with copies of the industry responses he has received to date, we have no choice but to request them ourselves.  Withholding Committee records is not only a violation of House rules, but a waste of time that could have been avoided with the smallest degree of bipartisan cooperation."

Please see below for an example letter Rep. Cummings sent today.

-30-

Documents and Links

Letter from Rep. Cummings to the American Meat Institute (.pdf).