Steny Hoyer, the House Minority Whip, came out forcefully on Monday against the suggestion that Democrats send only a single representative, like Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fl), to the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Hoyer said that the idea, mooted by Democrats like Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut to have only one Democrat on the committee as "the worst of all possible worlds." He described it as a situation where "you're sort of there but you only have one person while you have seven people over here. It's not fair and not balanced and would give a skewed perception of what's going on."
Instead, the senior Democrat though that his party should either participate fully, provided they get the necessary assurances from Republicans that the process will be fair or not participate at all."You're either in or you're out. You can't be half in or twenty percent in" said Hoyer.
The controversy over the Benghazi committee was sparked when Republicans decided not to have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans on the committee but instead have seven Republicans and five Democrats. Hoyer said this imbalance, common on most congressional committees, "didn't bother me as much as long as the process was fair."
