Kiley, Duarte among California Republican congressmen happy to land roles on key committees
California Republicans certainly scored what they wanted out of U.S. House committee slots. Take the state’s two new GOP congressmen, Reps. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, and John Duarte, R-Modesto.
Kiley will be squarely in the center of congressional action when he joins the House Judiciary Committee. Kiley, a Yale Law School graduate, has worked as a private attorney.
The judiciary committee, led by conservative firebrand Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to launch a series of investigations and hearings into the Biden administration.
Last week, the House created a new subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” a panel expected to probe what its backers see as administration missteps and worse. All the members have not been announced.
California Reps. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, and Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos, are returning to the judiciary committee. McClintock is expected to chair its immigration subcommittee.
Kiley has consistently voiced support for aggressive looks at the administration. The new subcommittee, he said in his blog, can “investigate how agencies have illegally monitored and targeted American citizens.”
More broadly, Kiley said, “The House can conduct investigations, hold hearings, summon Biden officials, issue subpoenas, and much more – all on its own. Neither the Senate nor White House can stop us.”
The committee is also expected to look into classified documents found at Biden’s home and private office.
As an example of an investigation the committee can undertake, Kiley cited what he called the administration’s “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.”
Conservatives have insisted for months that according to whistleblowers, the FBI has tracked parents who protest Covid policies. Reports have said that the agency created a “threat tag” to watch such parents.
Attorney General Merrick Garland told the judiciary committee last year that the agency would not use anti-terrorism laws against parents or infringe on their First Amendment rights to free speech.
A CNN fact check quoted the FBI as saying it “has never been in the business of investigating parents who speak out or policing speech at school board meetings.”
Nonetheless, Kiley told The Bee, “This is an area where we need answers. That’s part of the job of Congress, to provide oversight of the executive branch, and that’s not a political thing; that’s literally a constitutional responsibility of the office and our branch of government.”
He explained that “the very existence of a dispute over what actually happened is sort of why it’s incumbent on us to get answers.”
Kiley hopes to use the committee to get answers to other controversies. “Certainly when it comes to spending, certainly when it comes to the situation at the border, the misuse of federal resources by the administration when it comes to education certainly and a whole host of areas,” he said.
“This is a standard function of Congress. I think It’s been neglected, certainly the last couple of years.”
Kiley will also join the House Education and Workforce Committee. Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, its chairwoman, said the committee would “work to eliminate overreach and inefficiency” by the government in her introductory message.
“While the Left wants to control the lives of Americans from birth until death, we as conservatives are committed to promoting freedom and self-government,” she wrote. “This includes resisting attempts to push all workers into unions and all students into one-size-fits-all government-run schools.”
Duarte, a farmer who co-founded Duarte Nursery, secured what he wanted in joining the Agriculture Committee, which generally oversees farming-related matters, such as livestock and plant inspection, rural development and water conservation.
“That’s how you get water on the farms,” he told The Bee during the week that the House was voting to choose its speaker.
Getting water for Central Valley farmers and families has been one of his top legislative priorities.
Duarte also joins the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees projects in those areas and energy and supply chain issues. Among their priorities this year are a long-term reauthorization of aviation programs and preventing “fraud, waste, and abuse” as recent infrastructure laws are implemented, said Chairman Sam Graves, a Republican from Missouri.
The committee will also propel this session’s Water Resources Development Act, which looks at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in flood control, navigation and ecosystem restoration. As Duarte has committed to finding ways to store water in the Central Valley, he also has said he wants to curb government spending to tamp down on inflation.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, is returning to both of those committees.
Some committees and subcommittees are still being sorted out — such as the powerful Appropriations Committee, which in the previous Congress had among its members Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, and other Californians.. But some leaders have been decided.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, will be the Chairman of the Appropriation Subcommittee for Defense. One of the House’s most important committees, appropriations covers government spending. Calvert, who was the highest-ranking Republican on the subcommittee in the Democrat-led House, will be able to set priorities on funding for the Department of Defense.
Calvert said that there “is no higher priority for Congress than defending the American people” in a statement about his appointment. While he said he wanted to provide the right resources for the military to “make sure it’s never a fair fight” against opponents, he cautioned about too much spending and said that they must “prioritize investments in the tools that will provide the foundation for our defense for decades to come.”
“As Alexander Hamilton once wrote,” Calvert said, “‘the circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite.’ Yet, as we know all too well, American tax dollars are very much finite.”
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kiley, Duarte among California Republican congressmen happy to land roles on key committees."
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