House Republicans Expected To Weaken Congressional Ethics Office

The 115th Congress convenes today, and it’s already off to a rocky start. On Monday, House Republicans voted to dramatically scale back the power of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).  The OCE is a “non-partisan” investigative entity that functions independently of Congress. It was created eight years ago after a series of congressional scandals. While it doesn’t have much power, it releases public reports of its findings, even if the Ethics Committee drops the case.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was created by the Democrat majority and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008 in response to several ethical cases by Members which eventually led to federal jail time for each. These included bribery from Reps. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), William Jefferson (D-La.), and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio).

 

The intent of OCE was to supplement the existing House Ethics Committee and create a separate body eligible to accept complaints from the general public, something that Ethics does not allow. The last eight years have provided a significant body of results which allow for a thorough review of their governing structure.

With a 119-74 vote during a party conference meeting Monday, Republicans voted to place the office under control of the House Ethics Committee and rename the OCE the “Office of Congressional Complaint Review.” Under the new rules, investigations based on anonymous tips will be prohibited. In addition, the rules will “allow the ethics committee to torpedo an ongoing investigation, and bar OCE from making public statements. Collectively, the rules greatly nullify OCE’s effectiveness, which was already quite limited (the office didn’t even have a subpoena power).”

You should probably know that House Republicans weren’t backed by GOP leadership. House Speaker Paul Ryan along with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy opposed the move. I should note, the House GOP’s moves didn’t immediately change anything. The amendment will be included in the rules package, which the House will vote on Tuesday.

Democrats are outraged. They say this is a betrayal of the promise to “drain the swamp.” (Which, if true, should actually bring them joy.)

“Republicans claim they want to drain the swamp, but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” Pelosi said. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”

Perhaps the timing makes it look bad. I don’t know. I think the Republicans are feeling emboldened and couldn’t care less what Democrats think, so they’re going ahead with it.

Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) defended the amendment in a statement.

“The amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics,” Goodlatte said in a statement. “It also improves upon due process rights for individuals under investigation, as well as witnesses called to testify. The OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and this amendment does nothing to impede their work.”

He explained the amendment in greater detail on his website:

The Goodlatte amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing OCE by maintaining its primary area of focus – accepting and reviewing constituent complaints – while improving upon due process rights for individuals under investigation, as well as witnesses called to testify.

 

Feedback from Members and staff having gone through review by the OCE has been that those under investigation need increased protection of their due process rights, greater access to basic evidentiary standards, and a process that does not discriminate against them for invoking those rights. The amendment seeks to strengthen each of these needs while maintaining the basic core of OCE’s functions.

 

The Amendment renames the “Office of Congressional Ethics” the “Office of Congressional Complaint Review,” to avoid confusion with the House Ethics Committee, and places the Office under the oversight of the Committee on Ethics. Additionally, because of the sensitive and confidential nature of the investigations, the amendment provides protections against any disclosures to the public or other government entities, and requires that any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the Members.

 

The amendment further provides greater certainty as to the commencement and termination of any review, including timely notice to the subject and Committee on Ethics. Further strengthening rights, the amendment bars the consideration of anonymous complaints and requires rules changes to better safeguard the exercise of due process rights of both subject and witness.

 

Finally, the amendment limits the jurisdiction of the Office to the last three Congresses to conform to the statute of limitations for the Committee on Ethics.

Good move? Bad move? Discuss?