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Democrats Keep Pushing on Ethics
When House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced he was pulling the Democrats' ethics bill from consideration Wednesday after complaints erupted about it from both parties, he suggested that the next step would be for the two parties to get together to discuss the proposal and how to proceed.
Republicans are now waiting for Democrats to invite them to the bargaining table, but they may have to wait a while, because Democrats are working their own members to figure out if they can get a majority for the bill -- which would create a new Office of Congressional Ethics to screen complaints against lawmakers -- without having to make substantive changes or yield to GOP demands.
In her press conference today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed Wednesday's setback and suggested the proposal was still alive and well.
"I think [Democratic members] wanted to learn more about it and we will pass it in the very very near future," Pelosi said.
How soon will the bill be back? It could be as soon as next week. Earlier today, Democratic leaders and aides took the temperature of their Caucus during a series of unrelated floor votes, contacting each Democratic member to see where they stood on the ethics bill and figure out how close they are to getting a majority.
A certain number of GOP members -- particularly those in competitive reelection races -- will vote for the Democratic proposal if it does come to the floor. What the Democratic whip team is trying to determine now is whether there will be enough of those Republican defectors to cancel out the "no" votes of Democrats unhappy with the bill.
Many Democrats expressed fears Wednesday that the outside ethics office would be the source of potentially frivolous complaints that would smear members' reputations. And Republicans complained that under the Democrats' plan, just two of the six individuals running the office could initiate an investigation of a member, while it would take four people to stop a probe. That setup means an investigation could be started on a partisan basis but only halted by a bipartisan majority.
Asked about changing the proposal, Pelosi said, "There may be some tweaking," but made clear that she was not budging from the basic concept of creating a new outside ethics office. She also was not interested in changing the proposal so that only a majority of people in the office could start a probe, but she did suggest a potential change: Two individuals could still initiate a probe, but only if it was one Democrat and one Republican.
Pelosi also argued that a new ethics body would serve to weed out weak allegations, rather than forwarding them on to the ethics committee.
"I see the outside entity as one that can get rid of nuisance filings," Pelosi explained.
But Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the chief deputy minority whip, reiterated today that Republicans viewed the outside ethics office as "a strictly political instrument for partisan gain on the outside. What is critical is to have the inside process work again."
Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), the GOP's point man on the ethics bill and author of the party's competing proposal, said he's "looking forward to the Speaker keeping her promise to sit down on a bipartisan basis" to discuss the issue.
That may still happen, but don't expect Democrats to bring Republicans into the discussion unless they absolutely have to.
By Ben Pershing |
February 28, 2008; 2:35 PM ET
Dem. Leaders
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Ethics and Rules
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Posted by: 1-20-09 | February 28, 2008 4:50 PM
1-20-09: I very much share your basic frustrations about the Democrats (who clearly don't really have their act together), but don't forget two important points:
The Dems have a razor-thin majority in Congress, and far too many members of its own party are in Red States and cross the line too much, lest they lose their seat to yet another lock-step GOP hack.
Also, the GOP has done everything it can to obstruct any positive or meaningful legislation, from SCHIP to allowing tele coms with spy us without any sanctions -- and they've actually bragged about it. (Just listen to Sen. Mitch McConnell and you'll understand.) Combine that with a ruthlessly political and morally bankrupt Bush administration, and the results are the mess we're in today, both domestically and on the international front.
It's not just Dems who are the a**holes, here -- the GOP more than shares the blame.
Sadly, I guess we just expect more from Democrats, because most of us have lost all for the GOP to ever regain back its once-honorable status.
All of us should be encouraging Democrats (and those common-sense Republicans) to do the right thing, by calling their offices, writing, speaking out and VOTING!
Believe or not, it does make a difference.
Just think about it ...
Posted by: vegasgirl | February 28, 2008 5:35 PM
Term limits,
after all, we have one for the presidency.
That would would go a long way toward ending the corruption that is created by the inbreeding that is incumbency. Time for the likes of "my honorable colleague" from the state of West Virginia, or "my honorable colleague" from the state of Alaska to go. Introduce LONG waiting periods before they can go in to the lobbying business too, unlike "my honorable colleague" from the state of Mississippi.
Posted by: SMARTINSEN | February 28, 2008 11:35 PM
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Ethics??? You asholes, this president bankrupts the USA and you dems just sit there and watch F-YOU, stand up for America. Stand up for something.
I can understand Nancy not having any balls, but the rest of the democrates could at least grow one ball and pass it around. You watch while we die in a war on lies now you watch us go hungry...FCUK ALL OF YOU!!! You screwed America