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Congressional Integrity Project June 5 – June 9, 2023 Summary

Jun 9, 2023

This week, Congressional Integrity Project hosted a virtual press briefing on Tuesday with Lori Lodes, Executive Director of Climate Power, Joel Rubin, President of Washington Strategy Group, Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres, and Kyle Herrig, Executive Director of Congressional Integrity Project. 

The virtual press conference discussed the second Oversight hearing of the year focused on responsible investing, clearly indicating this is a serious priority for the GOP. Sustainability, watchdog, and foreign policy leaders gathered ahead of the hearing to discuss how these attacks on responsible investing will affect economic, national security, and energy policy, what’s driving this push, research on the witnesses, and the role bigotry plays in these efforts.

Ahead of the House Oversight Committee’s hearing designed to attack responsible investing, the Congressional Integrity Project released a memo exposing this dangerous policy push, featuring new research on the extreme witnesses and the dark money behind these widespread anti-ESG attacks. The full memo can be found here and watch the press call here.

Congressional Integrity Project also hosted a virtual press briefing on Wednesday with Ambassador Norm Eisen, noted legal scholar and counsel in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, Zachary Mueller, Political Director of America’s Voice, Joel Rubin, President of Washington Strategy Group, and Kyle Herrig, Executive Director of the Congressional Integrity Project.

The virtual press conference preceded the House Judiciary Committee’s latest hearing on immigration, where the Republicans on the Committee laid out the groundwork for a bogus impeachment attempt of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

This hearing came shortly after Kevin McCarthy made a deal with Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA Republicans to give them concessions like impeachment proceedings against Secretary Mayorkas in exchange for their votes on the bipartisan debt ceiling bill. Greene said the debt ceiling deal that she voted for was a “shit sandwich” but impeachment was her “dessert” that made it worth voting for the bill. The timing of this hearing makes it clear that this is a political payment to MAGA Republicans. Read our memo about the hearing here and watch the full briefing here

CIP sent 13 rapid-response products, including statements, fact sheets, and roundups.

CIP was mentioned or quoted in the following articles or news appearances.

POLITICO: Crocs come to K Street. “DEM OPPO GROUP TARGETS ANTI-ESG PUSH: The Democratic watchdog group Congressional Integrity Project, which relaunched last year to defend the Biden administration against the flurry of oversight investigations being launched by House Republicans, is beginning to broaden that mission to include rebutting conservatives’ crusade against the rise of ESG considerations… Republicans have made targeting ESG a ‘key piece of their economic agenda,’ Kyle Herrig, CIP’s executive director, told PI of the group’s shift in focus. ‘It’s critical that we push back against this harmful policy agenda and call it out for what it really is: a well-organized right-wing attack on businesses buoyed by far-right megadonors like Leo. As long as House Republicans continue to attack responsible investing, we’ll continue to make sure Americans know the truth about their dangerous agenda.’” [POLITICO, 6/7/23]

Tweet: @ThePlumLineGS: “Yep, @NormEisen has this right: “Impeachment should not be utilized as payback to the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene. There is no legitimate basis for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas.” (link: https://tinyurl.com/2s4pk92e) Pay attention to this, folks, it’s starting now:” [Tweet, 6/7/23]

Tweet: @AmericasVoice: “The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on immigration today. Republicans are planning to lay out the groundwork for a misleading impeachment of DHS Secretary Mayorkas. Our political director @ZacharyAMueller joined @usintegrityorg to preview👇https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PilpGcG_5t8” [Tweet, 6/7/23]

Finally, CIP shared the following talking points and message guidance with our Allies and staff members on the Hill.