4 ms·

I imagine this is just a courtesy; if they decline to answer, then the committee can issue a subpoena and compel them to. Here's a nice white paper on Congress

• msherry 12y ago
  That was really interesting, thanks. In particular, "The Enforcement Process. Congressional investigations often begin informally, with the interested committee or subcommittee first seeking information on a voluntary basis (i.e., by sending a letter request or asking for an informal interview), rather than by issuing compulsory subpoenas. Although there is no legal obligation that a party comply with such a request, it is typically in the responding party’s best interest to do so"
• andrewpi 12y ago
  Franken will no longer be Chairman of this committee in January when the Democrats are no longer in control of the US Senate.
  • hudibras 12y ago
    Even if this is a Democratic-only concern (which I don't think it is), this would be an easy one for a Senator in the minority to sell to the Chairman as a personal favor. It would just be a subpoena to answer some questions; the Chairman wouldn't be signing up to actually do anything like sponsoring legislation.
• tomcam 12y ago
  Fascinating! So the letter is probably a veiled threat. I hope the Senate has better things to do with its time, though a debate of much stronger privacy laws would be a healthy outcome of this mess.