D21 President Fred Wertheimer On House GOP Effort To Gut Office Of Congressional Ethics

Buried in the House Rules that House Republicans will propose and consider as an early order of business are provisions designed to gut the bipartisan Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).

The OCE was created in 2008 and has served the nation and the House well in protecting against ethics violations and holding Members accountable for improper actions.

There is no basis for gutting the effective and successful OCE other than to make it easier for unethical Representatives to break House ethics rules without facing consequences for their actions.

House Members who break House ethics rules cast a shadow on all House Members and seriously discredit the House as an institution in the eyes of an already skeptical public.

New first-term Republican Members who vote for the proposed Republican House Rules package will be casting their first policy vote in Congress to support enabling unethical and improper conduct by their colleagues.

Democracy 21 strongly urges every Republican Representative to vote against the Republican proposed House Rules that contain provisions enabling unethical and improper conduct by House Members.