WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have called for spending up to $3.3 million this year on the special select committee tasked with investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
The seven-member GOP majority would receive about $2.2 million for staff members and other operations, while the five-member Democratic minority would get a little more than $1 million, according to a document provided Monday by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed Sept. 11, 2012, when militants attacked the diplomatic installation and CIA annex.
Republicans have accused President Barack Obama's administration of misleading the American people after the attack in an effort to protect Obama in the final weeks of his re-election campaign and of stonewalling congressional investigators ever since.
The Republican-led House voted in May to establish the select committee to investigate all elements of the assault and its aftermath. Multiple independent, bipartisan and GOP-led inquiries have faulted the State Department for inadequate security in Benghazi, leading to four demotions.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it was critical to "getting to the truth." He tapped Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., as chairman for the committee.
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, described the budget for the Benghazi investigation as well as a House GOP effort to sue Obama as "an appalling breach of the public trust and a stunning abuse of taxpayers' dollars."
Amanda Duvall, a spokesman for Gowdy, said: "The money comes from already-appropriated legislative branch funds. That number is the high end estimate, and we expect there will be less spent as the staffing process is still ongoing, and since not all the staff came on board immediately in May."
The budget was first reported by USA Today.
A Section on 07/08/2014