The effort to hold the fetal tissue procurement company StemExpress in contempt of Congress moved forward Wednesday, despite Democrats walking out of the vote.
After the six Democrats on the special House panel physically exited the room in protest, the Republicans investigating the fetal tissue market voted unanimously to take legal action against StemExpress for refusing to hand over its accounting records.
StemExpress came under scrutiny after it was featured in last year’s undercover videos alongside Planned Parenthood, the nation’s top abortion provider. The accounting records the company has refused to disclose, Republicans say, are crucial to figuring out whether StemExpress broke any laws when procuring tissue and other body parts from aborted babies.
StemExpress says it has provided “hundreds” of documents to the panel, including accounting records, and denied any illegal activity.
Wednesday’s vote was the first step in the process to hold StemExpress in contempt of Congress and force the company to disclose its financial records. Thus far, Republicans say, StemExpress has only provided “summaries” of its finances.
“What is in the banking and accounting records that is so secretive, that [StemExpress] won’t comply with a congressional, lawful subpoena?” Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., asked. “What don’t they want us to know?”
Throughout the procedural markup, Democrats continued their line of attack, calling the investigation a “witch hunt.”
“This witch hunt is designed to end fetal tissue research,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said.
The investigation, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., added, “is an attempt to harass biotech companies and women who want to exercise their right to choose.”
The select panel’s investigation is being carried out by a subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, headed by Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
On Tuesday, the company attempted to explain its decision not to hand over its accounting records.
“StemExpress offered to testify before the select panel, but this offer was ignored,” a spokesman for the company told The Daily Signal. “Several House and Senate committees have reviewed our accounting records and closed their investigations. We have provided hundreds of documents to the select panel, including accounting records, both voluntarily and in response to subpoenas. All Americans should be concerned that a congressional panel can use the threat of contempt proceedings to support a narrative that flies in the face of the facts.”
After multiple attempts by Democrats to shut down the process by claiming the contempt report was not written in the correct format, Blackburn ultimately succeeded in her effort, with the panel’s eight Republicans voting in favor of the measure.
The contempt report will now head to the Energy and Commerce Committee for a full vote, and then appear before the U.S. House of Representatives. If the report passes the committee and full House, it will then go to the Justice Department for legal enforcement. With the House planning to recess at the end of September or earlier, the timeline for completing the process remains unclear.
