共和党人正在为针对拜登政府和总统家庭的数十项调查奠定基础，如果他们夺回众议院的话在周二的中期选举中。
共和党议员已经提出了1月份关于亨特·拜登商业交易的听证会，以及国会对从阿富汗撤军的重大调查和一个新委员会调查中国对美国的政治和经济影响。
“共和党人迫切希望对拜登政府进行某种形式的监督，”肯塔基州共和党众议员詹姆斯·科莫(James Comer)说。他的政党在众议院监督委员会的高级成员告诉ABC新闻。“我们将面临很大的压力，但我认为我们会完成任务。”
这种压力可能包括普通共和党议员和保守派活动人士呼吁弹劾总统乔·拜登和一些内阁部长，反驳众议院委员会调查1月6日叛乱的结果，并重新审视前总统唐纳德·特朗普关于2020年选举结果的错误说法——所有这些都发生在另一个重要的总统选举季节之前。
“共和党人并没有隐瞒他们打算做什么，”前共和党特工转为民主党战略家库尔特·巴德尔拉告诉美国广播公司新闻。“他们认为国会的监督是2024年总统选举的尖端。”
如果共和党人本周夺回众议院，我们来看看他们的一些潜在举措和调查路线。
亨特·拜登和总统的家人
从拜登总统宣布2019年第三次问鼎白宫开始，共和党人多年来一直在质疑他的儿子亨特·拜登的商业交易，并指责小拜登为了个人经济利益而交易他父亲在参议院和白宫的职位。
亨特·拜登一直坚称自己没有做错任何事，无论是道德上的还是刑事上的，但他承认自己的家庭关系可能确实促进了自己的职业生涯。
监督方面的资深共和党人卡莫和准备领导众议院司法委员会的俄亥俄州众议员吉姆·乔丹(Jim Jordan)正计划通过追查敏感的银行记录和调查司法部对亨特·拜登的调查来深入调查亨特·拜登潜在的税收和枪支犯罪。
联邦调查人员已经调查了亨特·拜登数百万美元的个人收入是否缴纳了足够的税款，包括他在中国和乌克兰从事商业活动时赚的钱。据ABC新闻此前报道，司法部还审查了他是否在枪支购买申请中谎报了自己的吸毒情况。他没有被指控任何罪行。
卡莫告诉美国广播公司新闻，在共和党的大多数情况下-这将赋予传票的权力-监督委员会可能会在明年就亨特·拜登和拜登家族的财务状况举行首次听证会，参议院共和党人已经花了数年时间进行调查。
“我认为你会看到一些关于举行拜登家族听证会的行动，”卡莫说。当被问及这是否会是第一次由共和党主导的监督听证会时，他简单地回答说，“有可能。”
他告诉美国广播公司新闻，财政部拒绝向他的委员会提交与拜登家族有关的财务报告，除非民主党人加入这一要求。
“那是扯淡，”他说。“一月份我们不会是少数。所以财政部无论如何都要把这些给我。如果他们不给我们，我们就去银行取。”
新冠肺炎·疫情
批评拜登政府对新冠肺炎和联邦政府在掩盖、疫苗授权和学校关闭方面的指导的回应的共和党人，可能会重新审视主要联邦卫生机构和白宫内部的决策。
他们发誓要传唤安东尼·福奇博士，他是拜登和特朗普的高级医疗顾问，也是美国国家过敏和传染病研究所(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease)即将离任的主任，尽管他即将在今年年底退休，但他仍将在国会作证。
福奇最近告诉美国广播公司首席记者乔恩·卡尔，在作为一名高级公共卫生官员在国会山与立法者交谈了38年后，他在共和党领导的委员会面前出现没有问题。
共和党人还批评联邦政府在疫情应对措施上的支出，以及拜登去年签署成为法律的1.9万亿美元的新冠肺炎救济和刺激支出一揽子计划，这是民主党的一揽子计划，延续了联邦政府在特朗普政府时期开始的对疫情的应对措施。
众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡(加利福尼亚州共和党人)预计，如果他的政党夺回众议院，他将成为议长，他在最近的一次福克斯新闻频道采访中表示，共和党大多数人将调查病毒的来源。
参议院共和党人最近发布了一份报告，声称疫情病毒可能源于中国一个大型病毒实验室的泄露——这一说法在科学界已经争论了多年。
对中国的新行动
在同一次福克斯新闻频道采访中，麦卡锡还表示，共和党领导的众议院将建立一个专门关注中国的特别委员会，以解决对中国窃取美国知识产权的担忧，以及如何最好地加强国内供应链和经济对与中国贸易的依赖。
帮助协调众议院共和党人对华政策的佛罗里达州众议员迈克尔·华尔兹(Michael Waltz)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，共和党多数派将“继续努力将这些(供应链)带回家”，并推动审查外国对美国关键公司的投资和美国对海外关键行业的投资。
关于国内税收的立法
麦卡锡9月份表示，在吹捧共和党竞选季的“对美国的承诺”议程时，如果他们占多数，他们将在众议院提出的第一项立法将是阻止为国税局的87，000名代理人提供新的资金。
该机构表示，这些资金将用于替换退休的代理商，增加客户服务和技术支持人员，并加强对高收入人群的执法，而不是年收入低于40万美元的人。
将民主党人从委员会中除名
几个月来，麦卡锡一直建议他的政党将一些主要的民主党人从他们的委员会职位上撤下，以回应他所说的“新标准”，当时民主党人剥夺了两名有争议的共和党议员(佐治亚州的马乔里·泰勒·格林和亚利桑那州的保罗·戈萨尔)的委员会任务。(Gosar发布了一段动画视频，描述了对众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯的暴力行为，而格林长期以来一直发表煽动性和阴谋性的言论，其中一些她已经道歉。)
“他们已经开始的事情不容易挽回。他们今天和过去的行为永远改变了众议院的运作方式，”麦卡锡去年在投票反对戈萨尔之前说。他后来告诉CNN“民主党人创造了一种新的东西，他们挑选和选择谁可以成为委员会成员，”他已经确定伊尔汉·奥马尔、亚当·希夫和埃里克·斯瓦尔威尔是民主党人，他们将失去他们的委员会席位。
麦卡锡表示，格林在去年被民主党人和11名共和党人两党投票罢免后，将恢复在委员会的职务，因为她在当选国会议员前发表了煽动性言论。格林当时做了一个道歉性的发言，试图否认之前的一些评论。
尽管麦卡锡已经表示格林将回到委员会，但当被问及这位煽动性的国会女议员是否会在监督小组中获得一个席位时，他表示反对，这是她一直推动的事情。
Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, speaks during a statue dedication ceremony honoring Amelia Earhart at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2022.
伊丽莎白·弗兰茨/路透社
美国从阿富汗撤军
共和党人还可以利用众议院的多数席位来调查去年从阿富汗的混乱撤军——军事撤离，结束了长达几十年的战争，这场战争受到了对美国人和盟友的致命自杀式袭击，许多支持美国的阿富汗人被困以及塔利班在首都喀布尔的接管。
由麦卡锡和众议院外交事务委员会(House Foreign Affairs Committee)资深成员、得克萨斯州共和党众议员迈克尔·麦考尔(Michael McCaul)领导的共和党人已经预测了对撤退后果的调查，包括价值数十亿美元的美国设备落入塔利班手中，强硬派集团由此产生的统治，新出现的暴力威胁和疯狂撤离留下的人。
“这些战略失败太严重了，不容忽视。这就是为什么众议院共和党人致力于寻找拜登从阿富汗灾难性撤军的答案在专栏中写道在8月份共和党关于撤军的报告发布之前。
这由此产生的115页的报告包括许多建议，但共和党人暗示将会有更多的监督，呼应了其他人的警告，即在政府内部产生反响之前，对撤退的调查不会停止。参议院的共和党人推动封锁拜登白宫的某些提名人，因为他们认为撤军的执行缺乏透明度。
“拜登总统自己的官员将美国在阿富汗存在的结束描述为‘战略失败’和‘丑陋的最后阶段’。”然而，到目前为止，没有高级政府官员被追究责任，“读众议院共和党报告，由麦克考尔带头。委员会少数派认为，需要进行更彻底的检查，以找到完整的答案，说明这是如何发生的，以及如何确保类似事情不再发生。"
拜登和他的助手为选择离开阿富汗进行辩护，称这场战争的代价，无论是生命还是金钱，都超过了战略价值。
司法部'政治化'
共和党人一直指责他们认为拜登领导下的司法部“政治化”，麦卡锡本人也吹嘘说，调查将在共和党众议院的领导下进行。
今年8月，当司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)签署联邦调查局(FBI)在特朗普的Mar-a-Lago度假村执行搜查令时，共和党对DOJ不当行为的指控突然爆发。(特朗普声称自己受到了政治迫害。)
“我看够了，”麦卡锡说在一份声明中说。“司法部已经达到了令人无法忍受的武器化政治化状态。当共和党人夺回众议院时，我们将立即对这个部门进行监督，遵循事实，不遗余力。司法部长加兰，保存好你的文件，清空你的日程表。”
众议员马乔里泰勒格林，R-Ga。共和党极右翼成员，也为加兰起草了关于搜查的弹劾条款，认为他没有“维护、保护和捍卫”美国宪法。虽然弹劾努力不太可能走得太远，但格林对众议院后座议员来说有一个超大的扩音器，如果她选择，可以保持对麦卡锡的压力，对DOJ进行严格的监督。
司法部对特朗普处理机密和非机密文件的调查仍在继续。加兰为他的部门的执法行为进行了辩护，认为“忠实遵守法治是司法部和我们民主的基本原则。维护法治意味着平等地适用法律，没有恐惧或偏袒。”
共和党人还对司法部去年的一份备忘录感到愤怒，该备忘录警告说，“对学校管理人员、董事会成员、教师和参与管理我们国家公立学校重要工作的工作人员的骚扰、恐吓和暴力威胁令人不安地激增”，共和党人声称这是镇压保守派活动分子的前兆。
如果共和党人夺回众议院，可能担任众议院司法委员会主席的乔丹要求DOJ保留围绕备忘录的文件。
弹劾
众议院的共和党人正在关注对拜登以及他的几位高级政府官员的弹劾努力-这可能是立法和行政部门之间冲突的历史性升级，共和党认为这是对弹劾特朗普的国会民主党人的必要纠正。
格林和她的一些强硬派盟友表示，他们打算弹劾拜登的一系列所谓的错误行为，这一努力已经成为民主党巡回演讲的笑点，但可能会成为拜登和麦卡锡在下届国会的头痛问题。
其他弹劾目标包括加兰和国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约尔卡斯。
虽然共和党人对加兰的愤怒集中在他的部门所谓的政治化上，但共和党人严厉批评了马约卡斯，因为他们认为边境政策过于宽松，导致南部边境未经授权的移民激增。
“马约尔卡斯当然应该被弹劾，因为我们不再有边界，”乔丹说上个月告诉CNN格林的盟友、科罗拉多州共和党众议员劳伦·博贝特(Lauren Boebert)表示，弹劾马约卡斯应该是“优先事项”。
共和党人不太可能成功弹劾他们所有的顶级政府敌人，但麦卡锡可能会试图将挫折感引入对内阁部长的弹劾程序，以减轻他的会议的一些压力，并避免因一系列模糊的指控弹劾拜登。
“我认为这个国家根本不喜欢弹劾被用于政治目的，”麦卡锡说在一次采访中告诉Punchbowl新闻10月19日出版。“如果有人在那种情况下挺身而出，你必须这样做，但我认为这个国家希望愈合伤口……开始看到这个系统真正发挥作用。”
移民和南部边境
在最近的选举周期中，共和党人一直将移民和未经授权的边境过境作为针对民主党人的有力攻击线，没有理由怀疑集会呐喊将在众议院共和党多数席位时停止。
拜登已经在第42条(Title 42)问题上陷入了相互竞争的政治力量之间，这是疫情时代的一项卫生令，允许官员在边境拒绝移民，尽管在2022财年，边境遭遇人数飙升至200万以上。
随着边境口岸的增加，预计共和党人将继续敲打白宫，甚至超越对马约尔卡斯的追求，建立一场预计将是一场立法斗争。
近年来，移民改革一直是两党的大白鲸，民主党人推动增加对所谓的梦想家的保护，共和党人呼吁采取更多的边境安全措施，如增加代理人。两党尚未能拿出一个获得足够支持的妥协方案在国会获得通过，但共和党人表示，他们将再次尝试。
麦卡锡说:“你首先会看到的是一项先控制边境的法案。”告诉CNN星期一。“你必须控制边境。仅今年一年，就有近200万人前来参观。”
编者按:这篇文章已被更正，以说明众议员迈克尔·麦克考尔作为众议院外交事务委员会高级成员的正确立场。
What to expect if Republicans take the House in the midterms: Investigations, possible impeachments
Republicans are laying the groundwork for dozens of investigations into the Biden administration -- and the president's family -- should they retake the Housein Tuesday's midterm elections.
Already, GOP lawmakers have floated January hearings on Hunter Biden's business dealings as well as a major congressional probe of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and a new committee to investigate China's political and economic influence on the United States.
"There is a burning desire by Republicans to provide some type of oversight to the Biden administration," Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., his party's ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, told ABC News. "We're going to be under a lot of pressure to perform, but I think we will be up to the task."
That pressure could include calls from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers and conservative activists to impeach President Joe Biden and some Cabinet secretaries, rebut the findings of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and revisit former President Donald Trump's false claims about the results of the 2020 election -- all ahead of another consequential presidential election season.
"Republicans have not made a secret of what they intend to do," Kurt Bardella, a former GOP operative-turned-Democratic strategist, told ABC News. "They see congressional oversight as the tip of the spear for the 2024 presidential election."
Here's a look at some of Republicans' potential moves and lines of investigation should they retake the House this week.
Hunter Biden and the president's family
Beginning when President Biden announced his third bid for the White House in 2019, Republicans have spent years raising questions about his son Hunter Biden's business dealings and accused the younger Biden of trading off his father's positions in the Senate and Obama White House for personal financial gain.
Hunter Biden has long insisted he did nothing wrong, ethically or criminally, but has acknowledged his family ties likely did boost his own career.
Comer, the ranking Republican on oversight, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is poised to lead the House Judiciary Committee, are planning to dig deeper into Hunter Biden in the majority by pursuing sensitive banking records and investigating the Justice Department's handling of investigations of Hunter Bidenover potential tax and gun crimes.
Federal investigators have examined whether Hunter Biden paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of personal income, including money he made during business pursuits in China and Ukraine. The Justice Department has also reviewed whether he lied on a gun-buying application about his drug use, ABC News previously reported. He has not been charged with any crimes.
Comer told ABC News that in a GOP majority -- which would bestow subpoena power -- the oversight committee may hold its first hearing next year on Hunter Biden and the Biden family's finances, which Senate Republicans have already spent years investigating.
"I think you're gonna see some action on holding a hearing about the Biden family," Comer said. When asked if that would be the first GOP-led oversight hearing, he simply replied, "Potentially."
He told ABC News that the Treasury Department has refused to turn over to his committee financial reports related to the Biden family without Democrats joining the request.
"That's bull crap," he said. "We won't be in the minority in January. So the Treasury Department is gonna have to give me those one way or the other. If they don't give them to us, we're gonna get them from the bank."
COVID-19 pandemic
Republicans who have criticized the Biden administration's response to COVID-19 and federal guidance around masking, vaccine mandates and school closures could be in a position to revisit the decision-making inside key federal health agencies and the White House.
They have vowed to subpoena Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top medical adviser for Biden and Trump and the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, for testimony before Congress despite his imminent retirement at the end of the year.
Fauci recently told ABC Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl that he would have no problem appearing before Republican-led committees after spending 38 years speaking to lawmakers on Capitol Hill as a senior public health official.
Republicans have also been critical of federal spending on the pandemic response and the $1.9 trillion in a COVID-19 relief and stimulus spending package signed into law by Biden last year -- a Democratic package that continued the federal response to the pandemic that began during the Trump administration.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is expected to become speaker if his party retakes the chamber, said in a recent Fox News interview that a GOP majority would investigate the origins of the virus.
Senate Republicans recently released a report claiming the pandemic may have originated with a leak in a large viral laboratory in China -- a claim that has been debated within the scientific community for years.
New actions on China
In that same Fox News interview, McCarthy also said a GOP-led House would establish a select committee solely focused on China, to address concerns about Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property and how to best reinforce domestic supply chains and the economy's reliance on trade with China.
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who has helped coordinate House Republicans' policy on China, told ABC News that a GOP majority would "continue to work to bring those [supply] chains home" and push to scrutinize both foreign investments in critical U.S. companies and American investments in key industries abroad.
Legislation on the IRS
McCarthy said in September, while touting Republicans' campaign-season "Commitment to America" agenda, that the first piece of legislation they will put on the House floor if they are in the majority will be to block new funding for 87,000 agents at the IRS.
The agency has said those funds are to replace retiring agents, increase staff for customer service and technology support and enhance the enforcement on high-income earners rather than for those making less than $400,000 a year.
Removing Democrats from committees
McCarthy has for months been suggesting his party would remove some leading Democrats from their committee positions in response to what he argued was a "new standard" set when Democrats stripped committee assignments from two controversial GOP lawmakers, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona. (Gosar had posted an animated video depicting violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while Greene has a long history of inflammatory and conspiratorial statements, some of which she has apologized for.)
"What they have started cannot be easily undone. Their actions today, and the past, have forever changed the way the House operates," McCarthy said last year ahead of a vote against Gosar. He latertold CNN, "The Democrats have created a new thing where they're picking and choosing who could be on committee," and he has identified Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell as Democrats who would lose their committee spots.
McCarthy has said that Greene will be reinstated to committees after being removed last year -- in a bipartisan vote by Democrats and 11 Republicans -- for incendiary remarks she made before her election to Congress. Greene made an apologetic floor speech at the time attempting to disavow some prior comments.
And though McCarthy has indicated Greene will be placed back on committees, he has demurred when pressed if the firebrand congresswoman would get a seat on the oversight panel, something for which she has pushed.
US exit from Afghanistan
Republicans could also wield a House majority to probe the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year -- a military exit, ending a decades-long war, that was marred by a deadly suicide attack on Americans and allies, the stranding of numerous Afghans who had supported the U.S. and a Taliban takeover in the capital of Kabul.
Already, Republicans led by McCarthy and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have forecasted investigations of the retreat's aftermath, including billions of dollars' worth of U.S. equipment falling into Taliban hands, the resulting rule of the hardline group, emerging violent threats and people left behind by the frantic evacuations.
"These strategic failures are too grave to ignore. That is why House Republicans are committed to pursuing answers to Biden's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal," McCarthy, McCaul and other Republicanswrote in an op-edin August before the release of a GOP report on the withdrawal.
Theresulting 115-page reportincluded a number of recommendations, but Republicans hinted at more oversight to come, echoing warnings from others that inquiries into the retreat would not cease until there were repercussions within the administration. Republicans in the Senate have pushed for blockades on certain nominees from the Biden White House over what they said was a lack of transparency over the withdrawal's execution.
"President Biden's own officials have described the end of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan as a 'strategic failure' and 'an ugly final phase.' Yet, to date, no senior administration officials have been held accountable," read the House GOP report, spearheaded by McCaul. "The Committee Minority believes a much more thorough examination is needed to find complete answers as to how this happened and how to ensure something like this does not happen again."
Biden and his aides have defended the choice to leave Afghanistan, saying the war's costs, in lives and dollars, outweighed the strategic value.
Justice Department 'politicization'
Republicans have consistently railed against what they see as the "politicization" of the Department of Justice under Biden, with McCarthy himself boasting that investigations would be incoming under a Republican House.
The floodgates of Republican claims of DOJ wrongdoing burst open in August when Attorney General Merrick Garland signed off on the FBI's execution of a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort over allegations he improperly stored government documents there after leaving the White House. (Trump contends he is being politically persecuted.)
"I've seen enough," McCarthysaid in a statement. "The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization. When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned. Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a member of the GOP's far-right flank, also drafted articles of impeachment for Garland over the search, arguing he did not "preserve, protect and defend" the U.S. Constitution. And while it's unlikely that an impeachment effort would go far, Greene has an outsized megaphone for a House backbencher and could keep the pressure on McCarthy to exercise stringent oversight of the DOJ if she chooses.
The Justice Department's investigation into Trump's handling of documents, both classified and unclassified, continues. Garland has defended his department's law enforcement actions, arguing that "faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor."
Republicans are also furious over a Justice Department memo last year warning of a "disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation's public schools," which Republicans alleged was a precursor to clamping down on conservative activists.
Jordan, the likely chair of the House Judiciary Committee if Republicans retake the chamber, asked the DOJ to preserve its documents surrounding the memo.
Impeachment(s)
Republicans in the House are eyeing impeachment efforts for Biden as well as several of his top administration officials -- a potentially historic escalation of the conflict between the legislative and executive branches, which the GOP casts as a necessary correction to congressional Democrats who impeached Trump.
Greene and some of her hardline allies have said they intend to impeach Biden for a range of supposed wrongdoings, an effort that has become a punchline in Democratic stump speeches but could be a headache for both Biden and McCarthy in the next Congress.
Other targets for impeachment include Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
While Republican fury with Garland has focused over alleged politicization of his department, the GOP has lambasted Mayorkas over what they say are overly lax border policies leading to a surge in unauthorized migration at the southern border.
"Mayorkas deserves [impeachment] for sure, because we no longer have a border," Jordantold CNN last month, while Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Greene ally, said impeaching Mayorkas should be a "priority."
Republicans are unlikely to succeed in impeaching all of their top administration foes, but McCarthy could try to funnel frustration into impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary as a way to relieve some pressure from his conference and avoid impeaching Biden over a slew of amorphous allegations.
"I think the country doesn't like impeachment used for political purposes at all," McCarthytold Punchbowl News in an interviewpublished Oct. 19. "If anyone ever rises to that occasion, you have to, but I think the country wants to heal and … start to see the system that actually works."
Immigration and the southern border
Republicans have wielded immigration and unauthorized border crossings as potent attack lines against Democrats in recent election cycles, and there's no reason to suspect the rally cry will stop at a House GOP majority.
Biden has already been caught between competing political forces over Title 42, a pandemic-era health order that allowed officials to turn away migrants at the border, though border encounters surged above 2 million in fiscal year 2022.
And as border crossings increase, Republicans are anticipated to keep hammering the White House even beyond going after Mayorkas, setting up what is anticipated to be a legislative fight.
Immigration reform has been a white whale for both parties in recent years, with Democrats pushing for increased protections to so-called Dreamers and Republicans clamoring for more border security measures like increased agents. The two parties have not been able to come up with a compromise with enough support to pass Congress, but Republicans have indicated another try is ahead.
"The first thing you'll see is a bill to control the border first," McCarthytold CNNMonday. "You've got to get control over the border. You've had almost 2 million people just this year alone coming across."
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note Rep. Michael McCaul's correct position as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
