House Republicans are set to vote to cripple the Office of Congressional Ethics, a bipartisan watchdog whose work has led to resignations and criminal charges for members of both political parties.
Provisions hamstringing the office included in the package of rules for the new Congress that the House is set to approve on Friday, three days after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ended the weeklong battle to become speaker of the House.
The new rules would create term limits for board members, which would immediately make three of the four Democratic members ineligible to serve. It also mandated that the office would only be allowed to hire staff for the next 30 days — a difficult task given the board’s vacant seats and the federal government’s typically difficult process.
The effect, advocates have warned, would be to paralyze the only effective congressional ethics watchdog. The office can soon investigate the legislative role played in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and can also look into the finances and fundraising Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.).
Government advisers and well-meaning liberals have spent the past week trying to remove provisions from the package, with little sign of progress or success. Twenty-four groups, led by the Campaign Legal Centre, sent a letter to members last week to keep the office intact.
“Together these changes weaken the OCE to the point where the office will struggle to carry out its core functions, dismantling one of the only ways members of Congress are accountable for ethical violations,” wrote the group. “Past attempts to cure OCE have not only undermined public confidence in Congress, but the movement has also been politically damaging and met with widespread public backlash. There is no reason to think this time will be any different.
End Citizens United, a Democratic campaign finance reform group, asked the OCE to investigate whether McCarthy used government resources to direct the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC controlled by his allies, to cut a deal with the Club for Growth, a hardline conservative group. .
The deal, in which CLF agreed to stop supporting candidates in open primaries in safe GOP districts, led the Club for Growth to drop its opposition to McCarthy’s ascension to the speakership.
During its 16 years of existence, the office has investigated everything from trips paid by companies (Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York) to insider trading by members of Congress (GOP Rep. Chris Collins of New York), leading to censures on the House floor, resignations and criminal investigations.
Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, created the office in 2007 after campaigning against numerous scandals involving House Republicans. The office works with the House Ethics Committee but is considered more independent and aggressive.
Republicans have tried to kill the office before. In 2017, after the victory of former President Donald Trump, he voted to do so in a package of rules only to withdraw after Trump expressed his opposition.