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Thursday, January 12th, 2023

House GOP Guts Ethics Panel

Author:     Deirdre Walsh and Daniella Diaz
Source:     CNN
Publication Date:     9:02 PM ET, Mon January 2, 2017
 Link: House GOP Guts Ethics Panel
Stephan:   Well if you want a heads up on what is coming with the new Congress that is sworn in tomorrow, here it is.  As this article describes the House Republicans in a secret meeting tonight voted to throw out independent Congressional ethics oversight. Now they can do what they want and you will probably never know. Freed from independent oversight I think we can anticipate unparalleled levels of corruption in the new House.  
Fraudster MAGAt Republican Representative George Santos and MAGAt Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy

WASHINGTON — House Republicans voted 119-74 Monday night in favor of a proposal that would gut Congress’ outside ethics watchdog and remove its independence. (emphasis added)

Republican Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s proposal would place the independent Office of Congressional Ethics — an initial watchdog for House members but without power to punish members — under oversight of those very lawmakers.
 
House Speaker Paul Ryan and other top GOP leaders opposed the change to ethics rules, but rank-and-file members disregarded their views and voted to approve the new structure for ethics reviews going forward, according to a senior House GOP leadership source familiar with the closed door discussion.
 
The proposal would bar the panel from reviewing any violation of criminal law by members of Congress, requiring that it turn over any complaint to the House Ethics Committee or refer the matter to an appropriate federal law enforcement agency. The House Ethics Committee would also have the […]

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6 Comments

  1. Mark R on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 6:42 am

    Congressional ethics = oxymoron

  2. John Gabriel Otvos on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 3:35 am

    Apparently, Trump acting out his dictatorial side, has forced the so called lawmakers to rescind this new law. That the GOP leaders in Congress paid attention is the main foreboding. Nevertheless, his presidency and the GOP total control of all branches of US governance and law will set the stage for what comes next. Be comfortable in not knowing.

  3. Charles on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 6:49 am

    I don’t always agree with your opinions, but find a lot of value in what you share on schwartzreport. That being said, I noticed several articles on this same subject, which seem to say that Trump’s tweets might have influenced the Republicans in the House to go back on their plan to take control of the OCE… As a vocal opponent of Trump, how does this example of Trump influencing the GOP in a seemingly positive direction by your standards, make you feel? Is this a positive sign, or simply a distraction?

    • Stephan Schwartz on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 5:26 pm

      Charles —
      From what I read it seems to me that the GOP reversal on the ethics issue occurred more because of the outpouring of citizen pushback than anything else. Say one part Trump three parts citizen pushback. And of course the House leadership was against this act of stupidity.

      • Charles on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at 1:48 pm

        Thanks for your input Stephan. From what I’ve read as well, I believe your assessment is an accurate one. Let’s just hope that Trump continues With a populist approach, and weighs in against other issues such as the GOP’s ongoing threats to defund Planned Parenthood.

        CB

  4. Rev. Dean on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 10:09 pm

    I agree with all the comments by John, Mark, Charles, and of course Stephan.