On Monday, GOP leaders in the House of Representatives moved to weaken the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. As it is, though, they were caught off guard by both. He told the McClatchy news organization Tuesday that he would not discuss how he voted on the idea in a closed-door meeting of Republican House members Monday.
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That didn’t sit well with a wide spectrum of media outlets and think tanks.
The House Ethics Committee has the sole power to punish members, but the Office of Congressional Ethics investigates complaints and passes along findings to the committee. An independent ethics oversight board is wise, and we’d say even necessary to decrease the temptation to misbehave and provide proper sanctions when misbehavior occurs. Also, the discussion about the ethics office shouldn’t have been partisan, he said. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases involving former Rep. It conducts investigations of members and House employees who are accused of breaking rules or violating the law.
House Republicans voted Monday night in favor of changes to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), Congress’ independent watchdog group. He suggested that the focus should be on health care and tax reform, and used the hash-tag #DTS, for “Drain the Swamp”, signifying his oft-repeated campaign promise to bring change to Washington. His tweets has also reinforced his intentions of draining the swamp, which is what we all want to see.
Trump’s political antenna is perfectly tuned to the public’s skepticism of Washington – and Goodlatte’s was not. They proposed new rules that would prevent the OCE from having a spokesman on staff, or investigating anonymous tips, or making referrals to criminal prosecutors without the express consent of the House Ethics Committee.
The House Ethics Committee oversees review of potential ethics problems for members of Congress and congressional workers.
“While Congresswoman Foxx agrees the Office of Congressional Ethics is in need of reform, she believes that changes should be made in a bipartisan manner”, according to her spokeswoman, Sheridan Watson. Everyone from George H.W. Bush to Hillary Clinton have learned that the hard way. They changed their vote and restored the office to its previous status.
NA: We saw some schism here between the rank-and-file Republicans and the GOP leadership – do we see a party in disarray?
But just because the House chose to give into Trump’s pressure to “drain the swamp” doesn’t mean all Republicans were on board.
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Why someone would hire a lawyer when they don’t have to give testimony or hand over sensitive documents costing them “hundreds of thousands of dollars” makes little sense.
