House Democratic leaders say GOP-dominated Benghazi panel is 'unfair'

"This approach is not only unfair, but it is unwise," they said. "Republican Members have made numerous accusations in public over the past year that have turned out to be untrue after further investigation, undermining the credibility of the investigation and the House.

"The House investigations stand in stark contrast to the bipartisan investigations in the Senate, in which Senators Lieberman and Collins issued a bipartisan report, as did the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"More than a new chairman is needed to correct the obvious deficiencies in this partisan Republican oversight.  What is needed is a fundamentally different approach.."

The Democrats added that , "We also believe Democrats should have a real and equal voice on the committee, including on (1) the issuance of subpoenas, (2) the manner in which witnesses would be questioned and deposed, and (3) the specific protocols governing how documents and other information would be obtained, used, and potentially released by the committee.

"In the draft resolution you provided today, you appear to have rejected these principles.  To the contrary, your legislation would explicitly exempt the new select committee from adopting written rules."

This story was originally published May 7, 2014 at 6:46 AM with the headline "House Democratic leaders say GOP-dominated Benghazi panel is 'unfair'."