House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pledged that the House will self-police ethics in the 115th Congress as vigorously as the Office of Congressional Ethics has even though the office will no longer be an independent entity.
“I want to make clear that this House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and the office will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress,” Ryan said after House Republicans surprisingly voted Monday night to move the office, created in 2008 to help keep House members more honest, under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee.
“The office is not controlled by the committee,” Ryan assured the public.
The independent Office of Congressional Ethics was created after the Ethics panel sat essentially dormant for nearly a decade, with members loath to sit in judgment of their peers even though numerous scandals, some of which ended in lawmakers and staffers going to jail, came to light during that period.
The office has a professional staff that investigates allegations of wrongdoing and presents a case to an eight-member board, which decides whether to refer the matter to the bipartisan Ethics Committee for adjudication.
“The office will continue to be governed by a bipartisan, independent outside board with ultimate decision-making authority,” Ryan stated. “The office is still expected to take in complaints of wrongdoing from the public. It will still investigate them thoroughly and independently. And the outside board will still decide whether or not evidence exists to warrant a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
“I have made clear to the new chair of the House Ethics Committee that it is not to interfere with the office’s investigations or prevent it from doing its job,” Ryan said about Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., whom he tapped to replace outgoing Chairman Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
Ryan said the House Republican Conference’s decision to change the hierarchy was in response to complaints from members that the Office of Congressional Ethics, which is being renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, needed policing.
“After eight years of operation, many members believe the Office of Congressional Ethics is in need of reform to protect due process and ensure it is operating according to its stated mission,” Ryan said.
