Republicans ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) during a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing after the freshman Democrat questioned why the GOP lawmakers wanted to adjourn.
Her remark led Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) to remind the New York lawmaker that Democrats continue to schedule hearings at the same time as impeachment depositions in House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) secret impeachment room in the Capitol Hill basement.
House Oversight lawmakers held a hearing Tuesday titled, “Trump’s Wrong Turn on Clean Cars: The Effects of Fuel Efficiency Rollbacks on the Climate, Car Companies and California.” However, it coincided with impeachment depositions in what has been dubbed Schiff’s “secret impeachment dungeon,” leaving Republican lawmakers unsettled and ultimately hoping to adjourn the hearing.
Ocasio-Cortez was incensed and accused GOP lawmakers of disrespecting the process.
“And I just want to know what the reason for such disrespect of our process would potentially be. Do we have a reason for why this hearing is trying to be adjourned? Or, you know, do we have just like a cocktail party?” Ocasio-Cortez asked.
Armstrong snapped back:
I have one. I have a real easy one. The oil industry is the second largest industry in my state. My constituents expect me to be here. We are running an impeachment hearing down in the basement of the Capitol right now.
“Wait so is this about the oil industry or impeachment, ” Ocasio-Cortez asked.
“It’s about the economy of the state of North Dakota … I want to participate in this hearing, but I also feel the need to be in the SCIF because we are only one of three committees that’s allowed to be in the room,” Armstrong replied. He went on:
I feel the need to be in the SCIF because we’re only one of three committees that’s allowed to be in the room. I can do a lot of things. I can’t be two places at once. I’m completely comfortable having this hearing; I just prefer to have it at a time when I could participate in it in.
Ocasio-Cortez questioned Armstrong for airing his grievances during the hearing, prompting Jordan to jump into the conversation.
“We’ve expressed this last week about have two things going on at the same time,” Jordan said. “It’s not like we haven’t talked about this, but you guys continue to do hearings at the same time there are depositions going on.”
“As the gentleman from North Dakota said, we can’t be two places at once. You talked about the one– do your job? There’s no way to do that when you have to be two places at once,” he added.
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