Ranking Members Connolly, Stansbury and Equality Caucus Co-Chair Randall Lead Oversight Democrats in Blasting Chairman Comer for Ignoring White House Corruption & Chaos and Using the First Subpoena of 119th Congress to Target…the Volunteer Chair of U.S. F

Washington, D.C. (May 5, 2025)— Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, and Rep. Emily Randall, Co-Chair of the House Equality Caucus, led Committee Democrats in sending a letter to Chairman James Comer urging the Chairman to revoke a subpoena issued to the volunteer Chair of USA Fencing Damien Lehfeldt and cancel an upcoming hearing meant only to attack and politicize transgender athletes.  In their letter, the Members underscore that this topic has nothing to do with government efficiency, the work of DOGE, or even federal issues, and instead point the Chairman toward 100 investigations the GOP and Trump-Musk Administration have stonewalled for which a subpoena would actually be useful and appropriate. 

“We are appalled by the upcoming May 7, 2025, Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee hearing titled ‘Unfair Play:  Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,’ which is a transparent overreach by the Subcommittee to give your Members an opportunity to attack transgender people.  The DOGE Subcommittee has ‘oversight jurisdiction over the federal civil service, including compensation, classification, and benefits; federal property disposal; government reorganizations and operations, including transparency, performance, grants management, and accounting measures generally.’  The Subcommittee’s upcoming hearing on transgender athletes in sports strays so far from its purview that it makes crystal clear what many have known and feared:  the DOGE Subcommittee is a mockery of Congress’s oversight responsibilities and is merely an ideological attack dog to drive division and distraction when MAGA extremists know they are losing.  In short, the DOGE Subcommittee is a total failure,” wrote the Members.  “As you are apparently now open to using the Committee’s subpoena power, we direct you to more than 100 letters Oversight Democrats sent to recipients across the Trump Administration demanding compliance with ongoing Democrat-led investigations and to our compiled list of 100 Trump Administration conflicts of interest, which detail significant concerns for which a subpoena would actually be useful in providing the meaningful oversight our Committee is mandated to conduct.”

In addition to calling on the Chairman to revoke the outlandish subpoena and cancel the hearing attacking transgender athletes, the Members highlighted DOGE’s efforts to run a chainsaw through vital, lifesaving services; effectively dismantle congressionally authorized agencies; hack Americans’ data privacy; and inflict cruel and targeted harm to our nation’s civil servants.  The Members called out Chairman Comer and Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene for attempting to pivot away from President Trump and Elon Musk’s tanking poll numbers, tanking of the economy, and tanking of public sentiment by scapegoating the trans community and their lives.

“Now that Americans are infuriated about the reckless actions of President Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE, it is clear you and your fellow Committee Republicans feel a need to double down on hateful rhetoric to dodge and distract from any discussion of how this Administration’s policies are killing the economy and hurting communities across America,” wrote the Members.  

Click here to read the letter to Chairman Comer.