Priorities, priorities

IN THE MIDTERMS, Republicans who focused on inflation, crime and other concrete problems made gains. Those who slung the slop of Trumpite invective and conspiracy theories, insisting the 2020 election was stolen, overwhelmingly remained stuck in the muck.

Yet since narrowly taking the House, Republicans under leader Kevin McCarthy have not rolled out a five-point crime control agenda. Or a smart plan to slow inflation. Or a blueprint for fixing America’s immigration system. Rather, out of the gate, the incoming leaders of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees are vowing to investigate President Joe Biden’s son.

Let’s be clear. Hunter Biden had lucrative dealings with foreign firms; his laptop is not some right-wing fever dream. An NBC News analysis of his hard drive and other documents published in May revealed that from 2013 through 2018, he and his firm raked in about $11 million from work with a Ukrainian firm and a Chinese businessman since accused of wrongdoing.

Indeed, the president’s son is now under investigation by the Delaware U.S. attorney—with prosecutors, led by Trump appointee David Weiss, purportedly weighing charging him with tax crimes and making a false statement regarding a gun purchase. In contrast to a predecessor who treated the Justice Department as a weapon to wield against his enemies, Joe Biden has said he will not interfere with the professionals.

President Biden has signed into law a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill and an Inflation Adjustment Act with $500 billion in new spending and tax breaks. Here’s a crazy idea: Maybe the House Oversight Committee could make it its highest priority to … oversee that spending?