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A power outage left lawmakers in the dark for over an hour

Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) (R) discusses with ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (C) about a power outage during a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill
Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) (R) discusses with ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (C) about a power outage during a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill Photo: Alex Wong (Getty Images)

House lawmakers made it about two hours into their questioning before the lights suddenly switched off. The sudden power outage forced House Oversight Chair James Comer to call a recess that put the hearing on hold for over an hour. Stumbling through the dark, several lawmakers could be heard over microphones cracking jokes with one saying, “there’s the green new deal for you.”

The power outage occurred just moments after Alabama Republican Gary Palmer uttered Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s name, leading some Republican lawmakers to take to Twitter questioning the “coincidental” timing.

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