People demanding the use of inherent contempt have consistently dis,missed the logistical difficulties and legal process issues Congress has to work through, and work out, to make inherent contempt work. From the simple “where do they get locked up” issues, to the “how do we arrest them if they refuse to appear and are hiding out in executive branch buildings or offer resistance” to the “how do we pay for all of this?” issues, it can’t just happen with a finger snap.
The D.C. jail is not under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress. Neither are the cells in the various federal courthouses. Neither is Gitmo. There is no legal process or procedure for putting someone into one of those cells without an order from a court, whether for contempt of court or under the contempt of Congress statute. Congress doesn’t have a jail. It doesn’t have jailers, food handling procedures, even sanitary facilities for incarcerated parties.
All of this shit is actually kind of hard and complicated to work out and, sadly, they still don’t have Green Lantern rings.