Rep. Bob Goodlatte presented an amendment last week to change the House ethics committee into a complaint department according to the media. They might have wanted to simply tweak it. The committee reviews ethics violations by congressmen. They reversed course this morning after a hailstorm of criticism from both sides of the aisle and the President-elect.
Republicans Reverse Course
In an abrupt reversal Tuesday afternoon, House Republicans dropped a proposal to gut an ethics office overseeing them. This was after coming under intense criticism from President-elect Donald Trump and others, NBC News reported.
The reversal came just hours after Trump criticized the House GOP for making the ethics rules change an initial priority of the new Congress.
“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,” Trump posted in twotweets. “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS”
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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
……..may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
NBC News thought Trump’s response was too tepid and was just a reaction to the backlash but NBC hates Trump and worked closely with the Clinton campaign.
If passed, the measure would’ve given the ethics oversight and investigative role to the lawmakers themselves and prevented information about investigations from being released to the public.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s office said the amendment, which he introduced, was intended to increase protection of due process rights for House representatives or staffers under investigation and grant them more access to basic “evidentiary standards.”
The media acts like the House is on fire. They say Republicans have no ethics, they want to gut or kill the ethics committee but we don’t actually know what the House Republicans intended. The media won’t report accurately.
The House Republicans don’t need this battle right now. Republicans are going to be attacked constantly so they’d better pick the big battles and forget the skirmishes.
