Politico said that the only lingering question regarding the House select committee that will be investigating the Benghazi affair is whether Democrats will participate in the panel. The question arose as it appears that Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are at odds on how the committee will go about their investigation over the deadly attacks against a US base and a mission group in Libya.
Pelosi reportedly wanted Democrats to have a say in the subpoenas, depositions and access of documents. The staff of the House speaker, on the other hand, stated that they have made fair concessions and that they will include Democrats in the process. The GOP, however, is adamant in giving Democrats the power on who will be called to testify before the select committee.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, "We made a fair offer. We hope they appoint members. At this point, it's time to get to work."
Pelosi has expressed her opinion on boycotting the committee altogether, Politico said. It has been said that she is not keen to appointing a handful of Democrats or tapping lawmakers to fill in the remaining five seats in the select committee. Moreover, the political news site said that she has purportedly expressed her intentions to Boehner when she talked to him on the floor, and then had met with her leadership team and followed up by sending a letter on Friday to the House speaker saying that she wanted to work with him on changing the procedures of the select committee. Boehner reportedly did not want to negotiate further.
All issues aside, Politico said that the committee has already started working on the Benghazi probe. It has been said that Democrats are split with whether they fully participate in the select committee. On the other hand, it has been expressed that the Democrats would have wanted to participate in the panel for the sole purpose of backing of potential high-profile witnesses like Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice.
