Greg Sargent reports Jim DeMint has backed down from his attempt to deny subpoena power to the Obama Administration's independent spill commission.
Last week the House near-unanimously passed legislation giving the commission that power, but yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint infuriated Democrats by putting a block on the legislation when a Dem brought it to the floor for a voice vote.
DeMint claimed he was doing this on behalf of unnamed GOP Senators in his caucus, prompting Dems to charge that Republicans were shielding Big Oil from a real probe.
But the Senate GOP leadership has informed DeMint's office that it has no objections to the legislation, and it will proceed, DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton tells me.
According to Sargent, DeMint's office says they never had any objections to the idea of subpoenas, but objected to the legislation anyway because they hadn't read it. Maybe we can get Darrel Issa to subpoena DeMint's office to see if they're telling the truth.