This is the latest dust up between Democrats and Republicans on the Oversight panel. Cummings: Copy me on Issa letters

The top Democrat of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants copies of letters sent to the GOP majority, and since Republicans won’t share them, he’s taking matters into his own hands.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is sending letters to many of the same 160 or so companies, trade associations and think tanks that panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) approached in December, asking which regulations they feel will harm jobs.


“I fully support bipartisan efforts to improve federal regulations to increase job growth while preserving the core safeguards these regulations were intended to protect,” Cummings said in a statement. “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.”

Cummings says he is contacting organizations independently to request copies of their responses to Issa, because the Republican has been reluctant to share the documents he’s received. Cummings also asked that any future correspondence to Issa be sent simultaneously to Democrats.

The panel has a Feb. 11 hearing to discuss the economic impacts of regulations.

This is the latest dust up between Democrats and Republicans on the Oversight panel.

Cummings has accused Issa of mucking around with subpoena rules by keeping the door open to issuing them unilaterally — Republicans say they are keeping the same guidelines in place that Democrats used. In addition, Issa and Cummings have butted heads over office space, among other things.

Issa has said that the correspondence - which occurred when he was still ranking member before the Republicans officially took control of the House this month - is private but will be made publicly available in some form before the hearing.

Cummings has countered that it is an official committee request for information and should have already been shared with he and other Democrats under House rules.

“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,” Cummings said.

The goal by Issa is to investigate the Obama administration’s promise through the 2009 economic stimulus bill and other measures to create jobs. At the same time, Issa is getting his cue from and a voice to a chorus of largely disgruntled industry groups and companies that have collectively groaned about regulations in the pipeline and on the books.

“As a trade organization with members that must comply with the regulatory state, I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members’ industry,” Issa wrote in a Dec. 8 letter to NAM. “Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated.”

Issa’s staff declined to comment on the record for this story.