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GOP Effort Underway to Undermine the House's Ethics Watchdog
In an effort apparently is afoot today to weaken the House independent ethics watchdog, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), by placing it under the House Ethics Committee. This would undermine the very purpose it is meant to serve.
OCE was created because Congress and the general public viewed the House Ethics Committee as having failed in its duties to police the House of Representatives, resulting in a series of transgressions culminating in the Abramoff corruption scandal and the Foley page sexting scandal. OCE and the Ethics Committee are institutional rivals, with very different roles: OCE investigates bad behavior and adds transparency to the process; the Ethics Committee operates in secret and only it can mete out punishment.
Just recently, a bipartisan coalition of open government and ethics organizations called on the House to re-authorize OCE without weakening its powers. They wrote:
It seems that the amendment is being offered as part of the internal House Republican conference debate on the Rules of the House of Representatives, which is taking place today. House Republicans will present their rules package late tonight or tomorrow, and it will be voted on tomorrow (Tuesday).
OCE was created because Congress and the general public viewed the House Ethics Committee as having failed in its duties to police the House of Representatives, resulting in a series of transgressions culminating in the Abramoff corruption scandal and the Foley page sexting scandal. OCE and the Ethics Committee are institutional rivals, with very different roles: OCE investigates bad behavior and adds transparency to the process; the Ethics Committee operates in secret and only it can mete out punishment.
Just recently, a bipartisan coalition of open government and ethics organizations called on the House to re-authorize OCE without weakening its powers. They wrote:
OCE is one of the stellar ethics accomplishments of the House of Representatives…. OCE has helped change a secretive and oft-perceived moribund ethics enforcement process into a reasonably more accountable and active system.
It seems that the amendment is being offered as part of the internal House Republican conference debate on the Rules of the House of Representatives, which is taking place today. House Republicans will present their rules package late tonight or tomorrow, and it will be voted on tomorrow (Tuesday).
https://medium.com/danielschuman/effort-underway-to-undermine-the-houses-ethics-watchdog-c2a242473564#.4uzrfvgt8
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Well, tonight in a sort of kick off to the Trump Era, the House GOP Caucus voted to put the OCE back under the authority of the Ethics Committee, which of course has a GOP Chair. Basically that means abolishing the OCE since the whole point of the OCE is that it's independent of the Committee. One of the sales' points for this new set up is that it "provide(s) protection (for Members of Congress) against disclosures to the public or other government entities" of the results of any investigations. In other words, if wrongdoing is found the newly-neutered OCE can't tell anyone. Awesome. They can't have a press person, issue reports, do anything without the say of the Ethics Committee. In other words, the whole thing is a joke, both the new version of the OCE (now the "“Office of Congressional Complaint Review"
and this whole move. But it's the Trump Era. Members want to get down to business, get their piece of the action and not have anyone giving them any crap. Just like the big cheese down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's the Trump Era.
Now, here's the good part, as it was with the DeLay Rule, the vote is secret. Why? Because this is a caucus vote, i.e., not an actual congressional vote. Let me digress for a moment and explain just one more bit of detail. With each new Congress the majority puts together a bundle of rules that will govern how the House works during that Congress. Mostly this just puts the old rules back in place. But there are always a few changes. All those rules get bundled into one bill and it's the first thing or one of the first to get voted on. That bill gets approved on a party line vote, just like the Speaker gets elected. If the caucus votes for it, it's a sure thing. So even though this was just a secret caucus vote, in effect it is binding as law since all Republicans will vote for it in the official vote.
Now, the reports from Capitol Hill are that Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McCarthy warned against the move. And I don't doubt that that's true as far as it goes. As in they said, oh please don't do this. But c'mon! If the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader really don't want something to happen, they can stop it. They didn't. The vote passed 119 to 74.
...
So who voted for it and who didn't? If you live in a Republican district by all means call your member of Congress and find out. It's called Rep. Goodlatte's proposal to put the OCE under the authority of the Ethics Committee.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/back-to-the-auction-house
and this whole move. But it's the Trump Era. Members want to get down to business, get their piece of the action and not have anyone giving them any crap. Just like the big cheese down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's the Trump Era.
Now, here's the good part, as it was with the DeLay Rule, the vote is secret. Why? Because this is a caucus vote, i.e., not an actual congressional vote. Let me digress for a moment and explain just one more bit of detail. With each new Congress the majority puts together a bundle of rules that will govern how the House works during that Congress. Mostly this just puts the old rules back in place. But there are always a few changes. All those rules get bundled into one bill and it's the first thing or one of the first to get voted on. That bill gets approved on a party line vote, just like the Speaker gets elected. If the caucus votes for it, it's a sure thing. So even though this was just a secret caucus vote, in effect it is binding as law since all Republicans will vote for it in the official vote.
Now, the reports from Capitol Hill are that Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McCarthy warned against the move. And I don't doubt that that's true as far as it goes. As in they said, oh please don't do this. But c'mon! If the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader really don't want something to happen, they can stop it. They didn't. The vote passed 119 to 74.
...
So who voted for it and who didn't? If you live in a Republican district by all means call your member of Congress and find out. It's called Rep. Goodlatte's proposal to put the OCE under the authority of the Ethics Committee.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/back-to-the-auction-house
