No attacker has yet been brought to justice.

Republicans say they're unsatisfied with explanations so far, and they have leveled a range of accusations against President Barack Obama, Clinton and other senior administration officials. Chief among them is that the administration misled the American people about the nature of the attack during a presidential election campaign and stonewalled congressional investigators.

Benghazi has produced 13 public hearings, the release of 25,000 pages of documents and 50 separate briefings. The select committee won't be the only inquiry, as other GOP-led congressional panels continue their investigations, including a House Oversight probe which just last week took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing a Cabinet member, Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry hasn't said when he might testify.

Democrats deride the effort as a conservative campaignSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democrats' potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, said he was unsure how quickly the committee could be established, but that he has begun planning.

"I've already started assembling and have been assembling a list of questions and kind of my own to-do list," he said in an interview.

The number of items on the list: "I'd probably say north of 100," Gowdy said.

Boehner maintains that the process will not be partisan, but Democrats have their doubts.

Boehner's legislation creates the special committee through the end of the year. It will have to be reapproved when a new Congress begins in January or go out of existence. The select committee has no explicit financial constraints. The speaker was expected to announce the Republican members