U.S. House Approves Republican Measure to Change Ethics Rules

[pmbryant]

The headline should read "Gut Ethics Rules" rather than "Change".

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aelJTNnTDNA0&refer=us

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives opened its 109th session by approving a Republican proposal to limit the ability of the chamber's ethics panel to open investigations of misconduct charges.

Passage of the measure, which allows ethics charges to be dismissed if the House ethics committee reaches a deadlock, came after Majority Leader Tom DeLay was admonished three times this fall by the ethics panel. The measure was the first test of the Republicans' expanded majority in the chamber after the November elections and drew criticism from Democrats and good-government groups.

``The Republican Party has already gone to extraordinary lengths to cover for and protect Mr. Delay from his long pattern of unethical behavior,'' said Representative Louise Slaughter of New York, ranking Democrat of the House Rules Committee. ``Now they are changing standing rules of the House to gut the ethics process, a shameful business for the majority to be involved in.''

House Republicans gained three seats in November, bringing their majority to 232 of 435 seats. The new Congress was sworn in today after the House re-elected Republican Dennis Hastert of Illinois as speaker. The measure was included in a package of House rules changes that was approved 220-195. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats and the chamber's one independent voted against.

...

More, from earlier today: http://pmbryant.typepad.com/b_and_b/2005/01/the_real_story_.html

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. Sweet! See what you can do with a majority?

<sarcasm off>

[7th_Sephiroth]

2. so basically the dems are powerless now

i am not being represented, its time for war

[Beaverhausen]

3. and they call themselves the "morals" party

oh god...the hypocricy never ends.

[maxsolomon]

4. no shame

it will be a blip on the national radar. barely noticed if at all, and too esoteric for joe sixpack to become outraged about. maybe if rush & hannity & savage & all the flying monkeys hammered it like oil-for-food, but fat chance.

good timing, GOP.

[Not_Giving_Up]

5. Watched it live on C-Span

Being sick at home does have advantages. It made my skin crawl. Party lines were simply not crossed.

As a Texan, I want to know - who do I write/send e-mails to? How do we get rid of DeLay???????????

[davidinalameda]

6. so much for any "good" Republicans

all of them are garbage

[cyberpj]

9. me too. just made me so sad to see the people still trying

when even they knew it would be pointless.


that's how they get us.


we eventually give up.


let's hope, not this time.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pmbryant]

8. Kick

:kick:

[UpInArms]

10. related NYT article: After Retreat, G.O.P. Changes House Ethics Rule

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/politics/05cong.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - House Republicans pushed through a significant change in the handling of ethics complaints over strong Democratic objections Tuesday as the 109th Congress convened with a burst of pomp and partisanship.

The House, on a vote of 220 to 195, enacted a change that would effectively dismiss a complaint in the event of a deadlock in the ethics committee, which is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. Its approval came after a retreat by Republicans on Monday on other proposed ethics revisions.

At the heart of both actions were calculations about how far Republicans should go to protect the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay. Many party members were unhappy with the ethics committee for the three admonishments it delivered to Mr. DeLay last year.

At the same time, some Republicans were uncomfortable retaining a party rule adopted in November that was intended to shield Mr. DeLay from having to step down from his leadership post if he was indicted in a campaign finance investigation in Texas. Republicans said the new approach to handling a deadlock on the ethics panel would protect lawmakers from purely partisan attacks.

...more...

[KingoftheJungle]

11. Notice how this is the first thing on the Rebublican agenda

Its like I'm living in a dream. This can't be real, but it is and it's not going away any time soon. We're in for a very, very bumpy ride folks.

[No Exit]

12. Now that repugs caved on this, also Frist caved on killing filibusters

Just read that Frist will not proceed with his plan to try to prevent democrats from filibustering Junior's judicial nominees. He said he wanted to "work together" instead, or some such crap. (Translation: ol' cat-killer Frist must not have gotten enough support from his fellow repukes for his draconian scheme.)

So they've magnanimously decided not to change the House "ethics" (pardon me while I laugh) rules to allow, say, Attila the Hun to keep his positions of leadership in the House while under indictment. And now they've magnanimously (with tails tucked btw legs) decided not to try to change the filibuster rule.

I bet there's trouble in Freeperville about these cave-ins. (Heh heh heh. Trent Lott, anyone?)

Some here have suggested that these cave-ins were part of a back-door deal by which, in return for these, no senate democrat would stand up with Conyers on Jan. 6. I hope that's not true!

[struggle4progress]

13. kick for corruption rampant. eom