House Democrats have successfully killed a privileged resolution by Rep. John Carter, R-Tex., which called for the removal of an alleged tax evader from the House’s top tax post, pending an ethics investigation.
The vote on whether to oust Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. as chairman of Ways and Means fell largely along party lines, with a final tally of 246-153, with 19 members voting “present” and 14 not voting. The final vote is here. The House buried the resolution by shuffling it off to the Ethics Committee.
Rangel is faced with several ethics problems. He failed to report hundreds of thousands in assets on his required Congressional disclosure forms, and also failed to report some income and underreported other income. He allegedly failed to pay federal income taxes on rental income from his beach home in the Dominican Republic, in addition to certain property taxes.
Rangel has also come under fire for allegedly shaking down an oil company’s CEO for donations to an educational institution named after Rangel, as well as his possession of an inordinate number of prized rent-control apartments in New York City.
Republicans who voted to leave Rangel alone were Peter King, R-N.Y., Tim Murphy, R-Pa., Ron Paul, R-Tex., Walter Jones, R-N.C., Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Don Young, R-Alaska.
Democrats Gene Taylor and Travis Childers, both of Mississippi, crossed over to vote against Rangel.
Here is a list of members who voted “present.” (Update: Those who did so because they sit on the Ethics Committee, which is investigating Rangel, are in bold.)
Jo Bonner, R-Ala.
Dan Burton, R-Ind.
G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C.
Kathy Castor, D-Fla.
Ben Chandler, D-Ky.
Mike Conaway, R-Tex.
Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
Gene Green, D-Tex.
Gregg Harper, R-Miss.
Doc Hastings, R-Wash.
Tom Latham, R-Iowa
Mike McCaul, R-Tex.
Sue Myrick, R-N.C.
Ted Poe, R-Tex.
Mike Quigley, D-Ill.
Mike Simpson, R-Idaho
Greg Walden, R-Ore.
Peter Welch, D-Vt.
