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Trump criticizes House GOP for voting to gut ethics watchdog

Republican leaders and Democratic lawmakers have also come out against the closed-door vote.

 

Andrew Couts

Tech

Posted on Jan 3, 2017   Updated on May 25, 2021, 6:58 am CDT

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized House Republicans for voting to greatly weaken the independent ethics committee that investigates violations committed by members of Congress. 

In a closed-door session on Monday, House Republicans voted 119-74 to add a proposal to its House Rules package that would put the Office of Congressional Ethics under the control of the House Ethics Committee. The changes would eliminate the ability of lawmakers to send the OCE anonymous tips, and it would only be able to recommend criminal charges against lawmakers with consent from the House Ethics Committee. 

House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) both reportedly argued against the proposal, according to the Washington Post. And Democratic lawmakers bashed the closed-door vote in favor of the proposal as “dishonest” and “absolutely ridiculous.”

The House will vote on the rules package later on Tuesday.

Update 11:25pm CT, Jan. 3: House Republicans will reportedly pull language from the House Rules package that guts the OCE following Trump’s tweets, according to the Washington Post.

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*First Published: Jan 3, 2017, 11:00 am CST