House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and senior Democrats on several key House committees will hold a news conference to announce the strategy. | Getty House Dems plot to force Republicans to cast Russia votes

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats on Friday will announce a new, coordinated strategy to force Republicans to cast votes on issues related to President Donald Trump's and his campaign aides’ alleged ties to Russia.

Pelosi and senior Democrats on several key House committees will hold a news conference to announce the strategy, which is to introduce a series of so-called resolutions of inquiry, according to a Democratic leadership aide.


Resolutions of inquiry are a rarely used tactic for forcing House votes. The resolutions are introduced in the House and request information from the executive branch.

The resolutions are referred to committees, and if the committees do not take up the resolutions within 14 legislative days, any member can request a vote on the House floor.

Democrats used the technique earlier this year to force committee votes requesting Trump's tax returns. One such measure was defeated by Republicans in a February vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

New resolutions of inquiry are set to be introduced in six House committees: Transportation and Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, Judiciary, Financial Services, and Ways and Means. The Foreign Affairs resolution will deal with Russia sanctions, the aide said, while the Financial Services one will deal with Trump's and his family’s finances.

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The plan is designed to draw attention to Democrats’ frustration with House Republican leaders, who Democrats say are not doing enough to investigate Trump’s connections to Moscow.

The Democratic leadership aide said Republican committee chairmen have refused to sign onto letters seeking information from the Trump administration and pointed to a White House policy, reported by POLITICO last month, to ignore requests for information signed only by Democrats.

The aide said more than 300 requests for information from Democrats have gone unanswered.

“Instead of defending the integrity of American democracy, instead of holding the Trump White House accountable for its complicity, instead of showing Russia that there will be consequences, the House Republican majority does nothing,” Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.

