'Out of touch' Dems ignoring America's struggles to assuage Trump obsession, Stefanik says

The No. 3 House Republican says Democrats are so obsessed with using the Jan. 6 investigation to settle scores with former President Donald Trump that they are "missing a huge chance" to address the crime, inflation, drug scourge and supply chain shortages that most trouble Americans.

"I think this is the Democrats, you know, really desperate attempt to try to change the narrative away from all these crises that the American people know their policies have created, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N..Y, told the Just the News, Not Noise television show on Friday night.

Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chairwoman, said the Democrats' first prime-time hearing on the Jan. 6 riots Thursday night was an "abject failure" and a "partisan political circus" that signaled to America they'd rather obsess over Trump than tackle the country's most pressing needs like soaring gas and food prices and the fentanyl crisis that is the single leading cause of death of adults between 18 and 45.

"They're missing a huge chance," she said in a wide-ranging interview. "Wouldn't that be nice to have a primetime hearing on any of those crises? That's what the American people are yearning for. .... That's how out of touch Democrats are with what's actually happening across this country."

Stefanik said Republicans won't let the Jan. 6 hearings distract them from staying focused on the issues of the present, saying they have created a comprehensive agenda for the fall election modeled after Newt Gingrich's famous 1994 Contract with America.

"You will see our Commitment with America that House Republicans have been hard at work writing," she said. "We will be unveiling that in the coming weeks. And this is really important. We're going to work hard to earn this majority, not only to hold Joe Biden accountable, but to put forth legislation on securing the border, on reining in inflation, reining in the reckless spending that's been happening, holding China accountable, standing up for parents and our role in the classroom on behalf of our children. So there's going to be a long list of policy to-do's and we will commit to delivering those results."

Stefanik, who also is playing a leading role recruiting top female candidates for GOP races nationwide, said Democrats are avoiding having a bipartisan discussion on how best to secure the Capitol and fix the flaws exposed by the Jan. 6 riots when a rag-tag, angry crowd overran a $600 million Capitol Police force.

"The purpose of the Jan. 6 committee with only Nancy Pelosi appointees is not to focus on how to make sure the Capitol is more secure," she said." And they're not focused on getting to the facts that led up to Jan. 6. What they are focused on is punishing their political opponents, smearing Donald Trump, smearing his voters and smearing Republican members of Congress who have called out this committee as illegitimate which is factually correct."

Stefani said she doesn't believe the Capitol is any safer than it was on Jan. 5, 2021.

"I believe that they have not made improvements, and we see that with some of the bipartisan investigations into January 6. Nancy Pelosi has refused to act on many of those recommendations," she said. "And I don't want to fault the Capitol Police. The Capitol police do a tremendous job every single day. And we are grateful and I have a great working relationship as does my office with the US Capitol Police. What concerns me is the politicization by the Speaker's office when it comes to overseeing the sergeant at arms and how they interact with the Capitol Police."