Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday morning, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said that Congress should use the power of the purse strings and cut off paychecks to any White House official who ignores a subpoena to appear before a House committee investigating Donald Trump's administration.
Speaking with the hosts, the California lawmaker also took a few shots at the GOP lawmakers who stormed a closed-door meeting, comparing them to high schoolers pulling a "stunt" then leaving a mess behind.
"The Oversight Committee has been focused on all the corruption in this administration, but we have also been painfully in a position of not being able to access the information we need because there's been such a resistance to giving us documents that we need to do our jobs," Speier explained.
"It really seems that there isn't an answer when you have a complicit Congress in some ways and White House that just says no. It seems like this is one area that we are not prepared for, so what's the answer?" host Mika Brzezinski asked.
"Well, the answer is, we've never had a president like this before, so the laws that we've had on the books have oftentimes been appropriately responded to," she responded. "Clearly he looks at every loophole and says so we're going to have to close those loopholes. If a staff member, a federal employee refuses to meet with Congress, they should be in a position where they lose their salary for a period of time."
"We should use inherent contempt, which we haven't done, which would bring people to the House floor. They could be questioned there and then if they don't comply," she continued before being interrupted by the MSNBC host.
"Inherent contempt, what is that?" Brzezinski pressed. "What does that mean, how do you pull that trigger?"
"Well, it's done very simply by the House taking action to hold someone in inherent contempt and it was used over a hundred times in the last two centuries. but we haven't used it here since 1935," Speier explained.
"Would that solve the problem of the lack of access to information, people, and answers?"Brzezinski asked. "
"I think that money always solves problems, doesn't it?" Speier noted. "If you're losing your salary or being fined, then there is a reason to comply with the law."
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