House to vote on criminal contempt for Barr, Ross over census dispute

By Clare Foran and Ashley Killough, CNN

Updated 8:55 AM ET, Wed July 17, 2019

Washington (CNN) The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt over a dispute related to the Trump administration's efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The latest escalation in tensions between House Democrats and the administration comes after the House Oversight Committee approved a resolution last month recommending that the House find Barr and Ross in contempt "for refusal to comply with subpoenas" issued as part of the panel's investigation into the push to include a question about citizenship in the upcoming census.

The Justice and Commerce departments pushed back forcefully on the committee vote and have argued that they have been working in good faith to respond to requests from the committee and have already submitted thousands of pages of documents to the panel.

Ross called the move by the committee an "empty stunt" in a statement at the time of that vote, while the Justice Department accused the Democrat-led panel of playing "political games." The committee vote took place hours after President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege over materials related to the citizenship question.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/house-contempt-vote-barr-ross-census/index.html