House Democrats appointed to serve on select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood called Tuesday for an end to the panel, arguing that Republican rhetoric incited anger toward the group that led to the Nov. 27 shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.
Republicans formed the select committee, which falls under the jurisdiction of Energy and Commerce, to investigate whether Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue. Democrats argue the investigation is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer dollars because three standing congressional committees have found no evidence of wrongdoing and that undercover videos that sparked the investigations were manipulated. The six Democrats on the select committee — Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Diana DeGette of Colorado, Suzan K. DelBene of Washington, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Jackie Speier of California, and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey — sent a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan asking him to disband the panel in the wake of the shooting that killed three people and injured nine others in Colorado Springs.