Posted on 01/02/2017 8:33:01 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON — House Republicans, overriding their top leaders, voted on Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
The move to effectively kill the Office of Congressional Ethics was not made public until late Monday, when Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change. There was no advance notice or debate on the measure.
The surprising vote came on the eve of the start of a new session of Congress, where emboldened Republicans are ready to push an ambitious agenda on everything from health care to infrastructure, issues that will be the subject of intense lobbying from corporate interests. The House Republicans’ move would take away both power and independence from an investigative body, and give lawmakers more control over internal inquiries.
It also came on the eve of a historic shift in power in Washington, where Republicans control both houses of Congress and where a wealthy businessman with myriad potential conflicts of interest is preparing to move into the White House.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Exactly. Bureaucratic duplication of effort...
What a way to start the new year, new congress and the “drain the swamp” effort.
Bad optics, stupid party.
If it was staffed by RATs and the usual conclusion to RAT misbehavior has been “move on, nothing to see here”, then it is a proper response. If it has fairly targeted all transgressors then it is a red flag against “our side”.
They changed their minds and are leaving the Ethics Oversight group alone for now. That sounds good to me.
They never checked Fat Charlie’s bank account in the Dominican Republic, nor how many visits he may have made to the local whorehouse.
He was the successor to Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr (D-NY), who did get caught with his hand in both the cookie box and nookie box (See the untouched up photo of the woman he was with in the Bahamas in Dec. 1966, who, if her bikini top snapped off, would kill everyone within a 100 foot radius.
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