Pelosi to Form Committee to Track Coronavirus Response, $2 Trillion Stimulus

The emergency aid bill also created a five-person, bipartisan congressional commission to oversee the spending of the $500 billion.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is creating a committee to oversee the federal response to the new coronavirus, an effort to add more supervision of the trillions of dollars the government is spending to combat the economic effects of the pandemic.

Mrs. Pelosi on Thursday said Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina would lead the panel, which will have subpoena power. The committee, which Mrs. Pelosi hopes will include Republicans, will also press the government to use the latest science in its continued response. The speaker didn’t name all of the lawmakers who will be on the committee.

“This is not an investigation of the administration,” the California Democrat told reporters in a conference call. “We want to be sure that there are not exploiters out there…where there’s money, there is also frequently mischief.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said he opposed the creation of a new panel.

“Inside the bills that we passed, we did put in oversight and this seems really redundant,” he said of the new committee.

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