IF NOT LEGISLATION, THEN INVESTIGATION?

There they go again:

Two more Republican-led congressional committees will probe the Obama administration’s decision to approve the sale of American uranium production capability to a Russian state-run energy conglomerate, a key GOP lawmaker announced Tuesday.

Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he’d be linking up with the House Oversight panel led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). The Senate Judiciary Committee has already said it would investigate the uranium deal.

Also:

The chairmen of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees on Tuesday announced a joint investigation into how the FBI handled last year's probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of State.

"Decisions made by the Department of Justice in 2016 have led to a host of outstanding questions that must be answered," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a joint statement.

Last week, I noted that there'd been a surge in Trump-inspired donations to the Republican National Committee, which is vastly outraising its Democratic counterpart. But as Martin Longman has pointed out a couple of times, I was just looking at the central party operations -- at the congressional level, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is outraising National Republican Congressional Committee, and a significant number of Democratic challengers are outraising vulnerable House Republicans.

Would-be donors to Republican members of Congress are angry because Obamacare is still in place and large tax cuts haven't been enacted. The GOP Congress wants to cut taxes, but cuts for the rich were apparently going to be paid for in part by limits on the tax deductibility of 401(k)'s. Now, however, President Trump has declared opposition to 401(k) changes, and that puts the tax cut bill in doubt. What to do?

Maybe congressional Republicans are chasing Fox News Antichrists like the Clintons and Comey because they want to provide cover for their president as Robert Mueller's probe closes in on him -- that's what a lot of folks seem to think. But maybe congressional Republicans also want to throw something, anything, at their donors that might be interpreted as an accomplishment. If they can't pass bills, they can at least launch of a few witch hunts.

Will it work for the Republicans as a whole? Maybe not. But I bet the principal inquisitors will have no trouble motivating donors -- and voters.