House GOP’s Assault on Ethics Office Averted but New Rules Still Do Damage
- Submitted by: Love Knowledge
- Category: Politics
The post House GOP’s Assault on Ethics Office Averted but New Rules Still Do Damage appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.
When House Republicans approved a plan to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) earlier this week — only to quickly reverse course less than 24 hours later after a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump and a barrage of angry phone calls — many hailed the turnabout as an important victory for government transparency. The truth is very different.
Several other rules included in the final House rules package are at least equally disturbing and hardly received any attention at all — neither from Trump, the media nor upset citizens.
To recap the good news: Yes, the OCE was spared. The entity was created in 2008 after congressional scandals about lobbyists bribing members of Congress demonstrated the flaws of the House Ethics Committee, where equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans tended to be reluctant to discipline anyone for misconduct.
The OCE is independent of Congress, nonpartisan, and staffed by ethics experts. It investigates complaints of unethical conduct. Any complaint the OCE refers to the House Ethics Committee must be made public, even if the Committee takes no disciplinary action against the member.
House Republicans had voted to replace the OCE with the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, whose investigations would be subject to House Ethics Committee oversight. This new entity also could not receive anonymous complaints, and could not interact with the public or the media.
The Bad News
But the package that did get approved still contains several provisions that will erode transparency, make federal workers more vulnerable to political interference and retaliation, and increase the penchant of House committees to subpoena anyone they disagree with.
One new rule would give the House sergeant-at-arms the power to fine any member caught taking photos, recording audio or video, or “broadcasting” on the House floor.
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