House of Representatives Approves Major Ethics Rules Change
Rep. Miller supports historic new independent ethics panel
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- 3/12/08 -- In its second major improvement of the ethics rules governing members of Congress, the new Democratic-led House of Representatives voted yesterday to tighten ethics rules even further by establishing an independent Office of Congressional Ethics to help ensure members of Congress are held accountable for ethical wrongdoings.
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) strongly supported the new measure and voted for it. The vote was 229-182 with 159 Republicans voting against it. The bill does not require Senate consideration.
“When the Democrats regained the majority in Congress last year, one of the first things we did was to pass the strongest ethics and lobbying reform laws since the Watergate era – a direct reaction to a record number of congressional scandals under the Republican majority over the previous 12 years,” said Miller. “Yesterday, the House passed its second strong ethics bill that will further help to bring an end to the culture of corruption in our nation’s capital.
“For the first time in history, the House has voted to establish a panel that will not comprise of current members of Congress to provide the first review of allegations of wrongdoing and make the initial determination of whether the allegations merit further review,” Miller said. “I believe this will greatly strengthen the system of checks and balances we have in our ethics rules governing the House and will benefit the public and members of Congress.”
The new ethics rule creates the bi-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics, which will be comprised of six individuals appointed jointly by the Speaker and the Minority Leader. Current members of Congress and lobbyists are not eligible to serve on the panel. The panel has the power to initiate investigations of Members of Congress when it deems it appropriate. Investigations could only be initiated if supported by a Democratic and Republican member of the panel. At the conclusion of an investigation, the panel would report its findings to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics Committee) and recommend whether the Ethics Committee should review the allegations. The House Ethics Committee is comprised of an even number of Democratic and Republican current members of Congress.
“The Democratic Congress is serious about changing the way business is done in Washington,” added Miller. “We have strengthened the ethics process to help ensure that members of Congress are held accountable for their actions and do not violate the public trust and also to help protect innocent members of Congress from baseless allegations that could be motivated solely by partisan politics or personal attacks.”
Nationally respected, independent, non-partisan organizations including Common Cause, U.S. PIRG, Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution support this reform.
The new rule follows the enactment of The Honest Leadership, Open Government Act last year, a measure that brought unprecedented transparency to lobbyists’ activities and was hailed by reform groups as a “sea change for citizens” and “landmark reform.”
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Posted by PDP-Staff at March 12, 08 11:21 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
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