House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has not yet acted on calls from within his own party to form select committees to uncover more information on the attack which killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have suggested the formation of select committees since November 2012, one month after the assault which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department employees. Such select committees could provide a channel for Benghazi survivors to come forward and tell their stories to Congress without legal repercussions from the federal government.Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told USA Today on Wednesday, "I want to know who the survivors are and for the appropriate committees to interview them." He explained further, "We know it was clear from the beginning it was a terrorist attack. I want to know what kind of help they asked for."
Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a member of the armed services committee, all called for a joint select committee to investigate Benghazi in November. The South Carolina Senator is threatening to hold up the nomination of CIA pick John Brennan if the White House will not release more information on the attack.
Both Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), along with other Democrats, rebuffed the idea of a joint select committee to investigate the Benghazi attack.
“At this point, I think that the standing committees of the House, whether they be the (State Department) oversight committee or the intelligence committee, are working diligently on these issues,” Boehner said shortly after his Senate colleagues floated the idea in November.
The GOP senators were not the only ones blown off by Republican leadership on the House side to create a select committee to study the deadly Benghazi attack. In November, Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, called for a select committee to investigate the attack.
According to Wolf’s November press release, the congressman “reminded Speaker Boehner of a September 25 letter to President Obama signed by eight House members requesting more information about the attack and the administration’s response.”
Speaker Boehner did not heed Wolf’s call for a select committee in the last Congress. In late January, Wolf refiled the resolution to establish a House Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi attack. Boehner has yet to comment or act upon the resolution.
Breitbart News sent an inquiry to Speaker Boehner's office on Thursday afternoon that has gone unanswered.
