The House Homeland Security Committee raised some eyebrows earlier this summer when it tried to regulate credit card companies — actions seemingly outside the committee’s legislative purview. Staffers for the Committee Chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, apparently suspected it was an attempt by the congressman to squeeze political donations out of credit card companies, spurring an investigation by the House ethics committee. The concerned staffers have even begun speaking to the Washington Post:
Now the House ethics committee is investigating the propriety of the committee’s operations, and whether its members’ interactions with companies compromised its work. Within a few weeks of the hearing, Thompson collected $15,000 in donations from the credit card industry and its Washington-based lobbyists, a Washington Post analysis shows. No legislation on card security has been introduced.
Several former committee staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have told The Post that the credit card hearing was one of several committee actions that caused staff concerns because of their consideration of potential donors and contractors friendly to Thompson. The current ethics inquiry was prompted this summer, according to an ethics document obtained by The Post, when a former committee aide alleged she was fired after complaining to her bosses that a lobbyist made improper requests of staff members.
This is important news, but bear in mind the House ethics committee is notoriously slow and ineffectual.
