Republican staffers on the House Judiciary Committee’s Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight Subcommittee were suddenly sent scurrying during the panel’s June 22 hearing when Democrats, without warning, offered a privileged motion to adjourn.
The staffers were rushing to get subcommittee chairman Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who had both stepped out briefly, to return to the hearing room quickly because at that moment Democrats Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) out-numbered Rep. Nathaniel Moran, the Texas Republican temporarily chairing the hearing in Cline’s absence.