(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who is a ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, commented on his top three investigative priorities in a recent interview.
According to Just the News, Comer plans to lead the committee in investigations on Biden family corruption, the leaky southern border and the origins and handling of the COVID pandemic.
Comer said that the investigation into the pandemic will include a detailed review of the inner workings of the National Institutes of Health—particularly their large salaries, vast job autonomy and royalty payments for taxpayer-funded drugs and vaccines.
“We’re seriously concerned about not just the origination of COVID, but also a lot of the COVID spending,” Comer said. “We’re concerned about the royalties that high-ranking government officials were getting for vaccine sales. We’re concerned about the slush fund at the NIH.”
Comer’s investigation will likely look into Dr. Anthony Fauci who pockets a salary of $434,000 a year—making him the highest paid federal employee in the nation. Fauci will also receive a hefty lifetime pension of $350,000 per year.
Comer said that federal bureaucrats, such as Fauci, have too much autonomy and essentially act without care for the will of Congress or federal law.
The lawmaker said he aims to change this dynamic using Congress’ financial power, depending on the outcome of the upcoming midterm election.
“One of the things that just drives me crazy is the lack of respect by these government bureaucrats that continue to do whatever they want, whenever they want,” Comer said. “And they spend whatever they want.”
“The Congress orders these agencies to have certain budgets, they put, you know, line items in there, different types of spending,” he added. “But then these bureaucrats turn around and they do what they want.”
Comer also said he plans to investigate the Department of Homeland Security, particularly Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and their collusion with social media platforms to censor Americans.
“This administration, this Cabinet, particularly led by Mayorkas, would label anything they disagreed with as disinformation,” he said. “We have constantly told this Cabinet and this administration to cut that out, that wasn’t legal, that wasn’t constitutional, and no tax dollars should be spent for any type of disinformation board or Ministry of Propaganda or whatever you want to call it, but yet they continue to circumvent the wishes and the orders of Congress.”
