'A paltry sum': GOP's highly-touted weaponization probe seeks tiny budget

The House Judiciary Committee wants $2 million each year to cover the costs of its highly touted select subcommittee investigation into the so-called "weaponization" of the federal government – a paltry sum compared to the $18 million that funded the House probe into the Jan. 6 insurrection. reports Rolling Stone.

“The Committee on the Judiciary expects to have an aggressive oversight and legislative agenda in the 118th Congress,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the panel, wrote in a copy of the budget request reviewed by Rolling Stone. He requested a $2 million "annual increase” to the committee's usual budget to “meet the immediate needs of additional staff and resources” for both the weaponization subcommittee and any other additional expenses for the House Judiciary Committee.

But Jordan reportedly also reserved the right to ask for additional funds in the future, including access to up to $15 million from the "reserve fund” in order “to address ongoing and unforeseen needs." That, on top of the $2 million, would bring the budget closer to the Jan. 6 probe.

A $2 million boost would cover the hiring of some researchers and lawyers. The Jan. 6 Committee used its funds to hire approximately 50 investigators in five teams to conduct more than 1,200 interviews and depositions.

The probe into claims that the government and the imagined "deep state" are specifically targeting Republicans and conservatives has not been going well. A hearing into claims that the government was pressuring Twitter to suppress right-wing ideas instead revealed that Donald Trump's White House pressured Twitter in 2019 to boot model Chrissy Teigen after she called the then-president a "p---- a-- b----" in a tweet.

Others have complained about evidence-free conspiracy theories, including that the U.S. government funded the creation of COVID, that doctors who use unproven methods to treat the disease have been "vilified," and that Democrats say mean things about Republicans, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has noted.