Friday, March 07, 2008

A Year Has Gone By and Still No Vote on a Change to House Ethics Enforcement

A measure to create a new Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), a panel of non-House members that would revise the House ethics process, has been delayed twice in a week. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has told House Democrats to expect a vote next week, but CQ ($$) suggests that such a plan "might be an overly optimistic goal." Many members oppose turning over House ethics investigations to outsiders. Possibly, if there is no vote on the outside ethics panel next week, it could be held until early April.

Some Democrats support a bipartisan alternative (H Res 1018) instead of the one offered by Representative Michael Capuano (D-MA), Chairman of the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement, H Res 895, and another suggestion would expand the current 10 member ethics committee by adding four former House members, two from each party (H Res 1003).