Top GOP Oversight member says panel will investigate ’40 or 50 different things’

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Sunday said the House Oversight Committee will investigate about “40 or 50 different things” when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next year.

Comer, who will likely chair the panel when Republicans assume the majority, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that Republicans “have the capacity” for a slew of investigations.

“We’ll have 25 members on the committee, and we’re going to have a staff close to 70,” Comer said. “So we have the ability to investigate a lot of things.”

Republicans captured control of the House in the midterm elections and will hold a slim majority in the chamber in January.

The GOP has long promised to investigate an array of divisive issues, including the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.

Republicans also want to pry into President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his family’s business dealings, despite few Americans expressing an interest in the investigation, according to polling.

Comer on Sunday said Democrats who are currently leading the House Oversight Committee have investigated several issues the panel “has absolutely nothing to do with” instead of looking into the Biden administration.

“Over the past two years the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee haven’t investigated anything in this administration,” he told NBC.

The GOP lawmaker said a top priority will be to probe how pandemic funding was disbursed and spent, noting the billions of dollars that were lost to fraud through programs like the Paycheck Protection Program.

“These are things that are going to be priorities for us as a committee: waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement,” he added. “That’s going to be the goal of the House Oversight Committee.”