This is really super stupid. The first bill that passes the Republican Congress is to weaken the Ethics Watchdog? Come on guys, the appearance of this is really childish, immature and optically wrong.
It's time that Representative Ryan or some other adult take the lead and get to work on the real issues facing America and IT AIN'T ETHICS REFORM!
This just looks, feels and probably is only to protect themselves from Ethics violations. We learned a long time ago that if you operate ethically, there is no need to worry about ethics.
We implore the Republicans to put on their big boy/girl pants on and start working on the real issues and stop trying to protect themselves. And by the way, why don't our "representatives" have to live under the same rules (EEOC, Sexual Harassment, Retirement plans, Health plans to name a few) as the rest of us slugs. After all they are our "representatives" not our Lords and Ladies!
Conservative Tom
Trump SMACKS Republicans For Attack on Ethics Watchdog [UPDATE: Republicans Abandon Attack]
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
JANUARY 3, 2017
UPDATE 10:45 AM PT
After special caucus, by unanimous consent, the so-called Goodlatte
Amendment was killed. The House Ethics Committee will look at the issues
here independently.
It is worth noting that sources in the House have confirmed that Speaker
Ryan spoke out forcefully against the Goodlatte Amendment, and issued a
statement with regard to the Goodlatte Amendment only in order to clarify
how the House would deal with its implementation.
ORIGINAL
On Monday night, Republicans voted 119-74 to make the Office of
Congressional Ethics less independent than it had been previously by putting it
under the auspices of the House Ethics Committee. Here’s the proposal,
according to the Washington Post:
Under the proposed new rules, the office could not employ a
spokesman, investigate anonymous tips or refer criminal
wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the
Ethics Committee, which would gain the power to summarily
end any OCE probe….Under the current House ethics regime,
the OCE is empowered to release a public report of its findings
even if the Ethics Committee chooses not to take further action
against a member.
This isn’t a particularly good move, politically or ethically. It smacks
of corruption, even though it’s a relatively unimportant change, as
National Review’s Jim Geraghty notes.
The message from the Trump administration has been mixed. Trump strategist
Kellyanne Conway defended the Republican move this morning, while admitting
that she had not spoken to Trump; Trump then tweeted his disapproval,
stating, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make
the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be,
their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, health care and so many
other things of far greater importance! #DTS.”
Trump is right. It’s a mistake for Republicans to lead off by providing the
appearance of corruption. Note that Trump isn’t chiefly concerned with
the actual ethics of the OCE – he’s mostly concerned with the appearance
of gutting it. But he’s not wrong.
There is a second question: is this the best way for Trump to deal with
Republicans who disagree? The vote hasn’t passed yet – perhaps it would
be better for Trump to make some phone calls behind the scenes to press
Republicans to scuttle the effort. Instead, he went public in an attempt to
garner personal support and demonstrate his power. That's smart for him --
he'll get credit if the plan dies -- but it isn't particularly good for Republican unity
around policy.
There’s good news to that and bad news. The good news: we can all see the
sausage being made. Trump isn’t going to hide it when he’s in conflict with
Congress, and we’re going to be able to determine who’s right, and who’s wrong.
The bad news: everything will be litigated publicly for the Republicans. Trump
probably isn’t going to quietly negotiate when he disagrees, or when a bad
headline appears. Rather, he’ll quickly leap to Twitter to share his thoughts,
ratcheting up tensions with the Republicans with whom he’s supposed to be
working, taking the most palatable public position while undercutting the
members of his own party on tough issue fights.
On this issue, though, Trump is right. And Republicans should follow
his lead.
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