House GOP oversight priorities include worthy goals — and red flags

Rigorous congressional oversight of the executive branch is a vital check and balance in America’s constitutional order. By winning the House majority, Republicans will gain the prerogative next month to issue subpoenas, schedule depositions and convene hearings.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), maneuvering to lock down needed votes from his right flank to become speaker, has unveiled a list of oversight priorities — some of which are appropriate. Mr. McCarthy is correct that “House Republicans perhaps have no higher responsibility than to investigate the withdrawal” of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and to assure that U.S. citizens and allies who remain behind are not forgotten. It’s also sensible for Republicans to scrutinize the trillions spent on COVID-related relief. It was urgent to distribute that money quickly, but it’s proper now for lawmakers to look at how effectively those funds were spent. Mr. McCarthy is also right to promise that House Republicans will investigate the true origins of COVID-19. The focus here should be on piercing the Chinese government’s ongoing coverup, not a partisan vendetta against public health officials who were doing their best with the information they had at the time to keep the nation safe.

Mr. McCarthy’s plan to appoint Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) to chair a new select committee on competing with China is also a solid choice. Mr. Gallagher’s committee plans to probe Beijing’s acquisition of agricultural land in the United States, the failure to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country and the question of Chinese influence in U.S. academic institutions.

Unfortunately, Mr. McCarthy’s majority also promises to chase subjects that have the potential to slide into less constructive spaces. Near the top of the list are the finances of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, a subject more in the purview of a federal grand jury in Delaware. Other listed priorities include scrutinizing the executive branch for the “removal of gender-identifying words in agency regulations,” as well as probing the Education Department’s “attempt to erase scientific definitions of gender.”

There are other items on Mr. McCarthy’s list that cast doubt on the seriousness of the incoming majority. A nod to “election integrity” raises the prospect that the party will continue to peddle lies about the 2020 election. Mr. McCarthy says Republicans will “determine whether to begin an impeachment inquiry” against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which sounds more like a political grudge match than an effort aimed at securing the southern border.

Of greatest concern, perhaps, is Mr. McCarthy’s pledge to go after the Justice Department and FBI in what’s plainly payback for ongoing probes into former president Donald Trump. “House Republicans will investigate the investigators,” said Mr. McCarthy. If there is any lesson that the GOP should have taken from the results of the midterm election, it is that — at a time when the nation faces a host of challenges — Americans want seriousness from their leaders. The House’s new Republican majority, narrow as it is, should not squander an opportunity to deliver what voters have demanded.