Over the past week,  Rep. Jan Schakowsky has led the charge for accountability in the House, instructing her staff late last week to begin an investigation into the allegations enclosed in the four Office of Legal Counsel torture memos and vowing to support impeachment hearings against Jay Bybee, a federal judge who authored the legal documents. Today, the North Side Democrat is upping the ante. Roll Call explains:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the chairwoman of the panel’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said Friday that she wants to hold hearings investigating the issue but first plans to run the idea by Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), who has been out this week, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is scheduled to meet with the panel’s Democrats next week.

“I hope that I can play a role in illuminating some of these issues, and I would like to do as much as possible in open hearings,” Schakowsky said.

Echoing Paul Krugman's New York Times column today, Schakowsky said that such an effort would in no way divert the administration from prioritizing the economic crisis, health care reform, and energy advancements. But Congress shouldn't dust this controversy under the rug. "However it’s done, this is an important debate," she said. "I understand we have a lot on our plate and I agree with our president that we need to be working on them, but [we should do it] for our future, 20 years from now, when somebody in an administration says we should renew these techniques because back in the 2000s, nothing was done, there was no investigation.”