Lauren Boebert Wasting Taxpayer Money on Self Owns

Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert is boasting about the number of committee hearings House Republicans are holding because "they have almost nothing else to brag about," according to a prominent academic.

Republicans have launched several investigations targeting the Biden administration in recent months, with Lauren Boebert saying the House GOP had "set a new record for the amount of hearings in a single day," with no group ever having "worked harder to get this country back on track."

The GOP took control of the House of Representatives in January, following the November midterm elections, though crucially they are still a minority in the Senate. After taking over, House Republicans launched a number of investigations including into the 2021 fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Biden family's "domestic and international business dealings" and what they called the "weaponization" of the federal government against conservatives.

House committees receive considerable funding, getting $301.2 million for the 117th Congress, which lasted from January 2021 to January 2023.

Boebert tweeted on March 24: "The GOP House has set a new record for the amount of hearings in a single day. No group has ever worked harder to get this country back on track than we're doing right now. We realize that this is the 'now or never' moment to save America."

Speaking to Newsweek, Thomas Gift, an assistant professor who heads the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London, argued more House committee hearings aren't necessarily a good thing.

"The main point to say is that the number of hearings isn't an indicator of effectiveness, and it's a mistake to conflate the two," Gift said. "Ultimately, what we should care about is the quality of legislative outputs, not inputs—the results of which are judged by voters. Lots of hearings geared toward the wrong issues can be, at best, distracting, and, at worst, counterproductive."

David A. Bateman, a politics expert at Cornell University, told Newsweek that Republicans are focusing on committee hearings as they are struggling to get new laws passed.

"It's no surprise that they are focusing on their committee investigations and hearings because they have very little to show in terms of legislative accomplishments," Bateman said. "This is a period of divided government and high polarization. Still, House Republicans are having a hard time agreeing on and passing their own legislative priorities, let alone getting these passed through the Senate or signed into law by the president.

"When you've got a poor record in getting bills enacted into law, and a poor performance in passing legislation through the chamber you control, you're going to emphasize the activities of committees, because what else is there to focus on? Hearings can be important, but they can also be opportunities for member showboating," he said.

"And the reason the House GOP wants to brag about their hearings is because they have almost nothing else to brag about."

Newsweek reached out to Rep. Boebert via email for comment.

Boebert's tweets provoked an impassioned response on social media, with actor Nancy Lee Grahn replying: "Revenge hearings all day long to 'own libs' resulting in lectures from libs that go viral for making you look stupid. It's fun to watch but YOU, lady are wasting our tax dollars while failing & being humiliated."

Not all Twitter users were so critical, with one replying to Boebert: "Hearings are great but how about bringing some criminal referrals to the DOJ and start impeachment proceedings on Biden. Stop talking and start doing!"

Another Twitter user wrote to the congresswoman: "Thank You Lauren, I appreciate all your efforts to save America."