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\n\tProgressives in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday blasted Republicans for using their narrow majority to \n\testablish<\/a> a panel headed by a far-right congressman to \"expose the abuses committed by the unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy.\"\n<\/p> \n\tIn a \n\t221-211<\/a> vote along party lines, the GOP approved a resolution creating a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, under the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).\n<\/p> \"The goal is not justice, but to delegitimize credible investigations into people who attempted to overthrow our government.\"<\/p> \n\tJordan\u2014who infamously \n\tdefied<\/a> a congressional subpoena to testify about the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump\u2014took aim at the U.S. Homeland Security and Justice departments as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and key House Democrats in a Tuesday floor speech advocating<\/a> for the subcommittee.\n<\/p> \n\t\"Mr. Jordan, who was deeply involved in Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has for months been investigating what he says is a bias in federal law enforcement against conservatives,\" \n\tThe New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a>. \"Now that Republicans have the majority, he plans to use his gavel and his subpoena power to escalate and expand that inquiry, including searching for evidence that federal workers have become politicized and demanding documents about ongoing criminal investigations.\"\n<\/p> \n\tWhile Republicans in Congress have compared their now-official panel to the historic Church Committee\u2014which, in the 1970s, \"labored for 16 months to produce a 5,000-page report that is a canonical history of the secret government,\" as journalist Chris Hayes \n\twrote<\/a> for The Nation<\/em> in 2009\u2014progressives, including<\/a> Hayes last week, have challenged that comparison.\n<\/p> \n\t\"In 1975, the Senate created a bipartisan Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities,\" Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said<\/a> after the vote. \"Dubbed the Church Committee, the panel uncovered the surveillance and abuses against civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as illegal programs to assassinate foreign leaders. Minnesota legend Walter Mondale served on the committee and his questions helped uncover abuses of power.\"\n<\/p> \n\tExplaining her \"no\" vote, Omar continued:\n\t Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a fellow \"Squad\" member, was<\/a> similarly critical on Tuesday. <\/p> \"The federal government has already been weaponized by Republicans against Black, brown, and other marginalized groups,\" she said. \"So unless they're investigating themselves, this Insurrection Protection Committee is a sham.\"<\/p> Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) called the committee \"a fascist power grab to evade accountability\" for the January 6 attack.\n\tI had high hopes that this would be a Church-style committee, where we could investigate surveillance of American citizens, violations of civil liberties, and the intelligence community's overseas abuses of power.\n\t
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