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In
a report, the Democratic-controlled panel recommended that the
full U.S. House of Representatives take up the contempt issue to
force U.S. Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The move puts the issue before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who
can bring it before the chamber for additional enforcement
action including seeking legal redress. The report comes amid a
political battle between the Republican U.S. president and House
Democrats seeking to hold the executive to account.
"The Trump Administration claimed that the only reason it wanted
to add the citizenship question was to help the Department of
Justice enforce the Voting Rights Act, but that claim has now
been exposed as a pretext," the panel's chairman, Democratic
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, said in a statement.
"Official after official appearing before the Committee have
refused to answer questions about the real reasons behind their
effort, but the mounting evidence points to a partisan and
discriminatory effort to harm the interests of Democrats and
non-Whites."
Representatives for the White House, the Department of Justice
and the Commerce Department could not be immediately reached for
comment. Representatives for Republicans on the committee did
not immediately respond to a request for comment
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Susan Heavey. Editing by Jane
Merriman and Chizu Nomiyama)
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