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The People Saved The Ethics Office, Not Trump’s Tweets

The People Saved The Ethics Office, Not Trump’s Tweets

That went over well.

In the darkness of night on a federal holiday, House Republicans voted to kill the Office of Congressional Ethics. That would have shut down independent investigations of corruption in Congress.

You could almost hear the wheels turn: Lobbyists are hot to gut regulations and steer taxpayer money into their clients’ pockets. Deal man Donald Trump will soon be running the show and does not seem averse to big federal spending. So what better time for some of us to personally grab a piece of the action? Blowing up the ethics office would clear the road.

Then — to the surprise of jaded observers — the skies opened, and down poured condemnation. Watchdog groups on the left and the right bashed the sneak attack on the ethics rules. Constituents deluged the wayward reps with angry calls. And Trump issued two tweets criticizing the Republican House members for taking up the contentious matter as their first order of business.

The sun rose the next day, and Republicans ditched the plan to kill the independent ethics panel. It was a good ending to a really bad start for the 115th Congress.

Many attribute the reversal to Trump’s disapproving tweets, and they may have moved things along. But the power of an aroused electorate is what truly nixed the game plan.

The public blowback to the offending individuals was impressive. But even more significant were the demands on social media to know how the representatives had voted. That implies consequences for actions.

Newspapers of yore would routinely print the rundown of who in Congress voted “yea” and who “nay” on important pieces of legislation. Reputable online news sources can now offer such information and make it easily searchable.

Trump is an undisputed master at assessing what gets through to ordinary people. Robert Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who orchestrated the secretive assault on the ethics office, is not a master. Goodlatte responded to the criticism by predictably blaming the media. His reward was such tweets as “You are a traitor to the Constitution you swore to uphold.” That’s not the sort of thing a right-winger wants to hear.

Now, it’s premature to assume from the recent Trump tweets that the incoming president is serious about “draining the swamp” of Washington corruption. A two-cent analysis of Trump’s personality might conclude that he wants to be top alligator — that he considers attempts by the salamanders in the hinterlands to get in on the deals to be presumptuous.

Another consideration: When awkward questions inevitably arise about Trump’s conflicts of interest involving his family business, he can point to the tweets as evidence of his passion for clean government. And chances are good that the right-wingers he left out to dry won’t exact revenge. They’re too scared.

Besides, this move by Goodlatte and friends was not only brazen but also awesomely stupid. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham put it succinctly when he told Fox News Radio, “It’s the dumbest fricking thing I’ve ever heard.”

Bear in mind that the run at the ethics office followed an earlier unsuccessful effort to restore funding of pet projects (also known as pork), a controversial practice that had been banned. House Speaker Paul Ryan nipped that suicide raid in the bud, though he did promise to bring it up later this year. Something tells us he may not.

Trump had managed to corral anger against Republicans, as well as Democrats. Many voted for him fully aware of his checkered business conduct. Perhaps, just perhaps, they’ll rise up when Trump tries to pull a fast one. There’s now more reason to hope.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

IMAGE: Demonstrators gather at the Utah State Capitol building in protest to the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. November 12, 2016.  REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

Republicans In Turmoil On First Day Of Congress In Trump Era

Republicans In Turmoil On First Day Of Congress In Trump Era

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-led U.S. Congress began its first session of the Donald Trump era in turmoil on Tuesday as the House of Representatives backed away from a decision to defang an ethics watchdog after a public outcry, including a dressing-down from the president-elect.

With Trump set to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, Republicans will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 2007, and they were set to begin laying plans for enacting his agenda of cutting taxes, repealing Obamacare and rolling back financial and environmental regulations.

But the moment was overshadowed by a surprise move by Republicans in the House of Representatives in a closed-door meeting late on Monday to weaken the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which is in charge of investigating ethics accusations against lawmakers.

Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to “drain the swamp” and bring ethics reforms to Washington, was not pleased.

“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” he said on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!”

The ethics office was created in 2008 following several corruption scandals but some lawmakers have charged in recent years that it has been too quick to investigate complaints from outside partisan groups.

Lawmakers wanted to have greater control of the watchdog, and inserted changes into a broader rules package, set to pass when the House convenes on Tuesday.

Even before Trump’s tweet, many House Republicans, including top leaders, opposed the measure and worried about its ramifications. Trump’s tweet prompted an emergency meeting and a quick change of course by Republicans.

“It was taken out by unanimous consent … and the House Ethics Committee will now examine those issues,” said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan.

OBAMACARE IN SIGHTS

Since his election on Nov. 8, Trump has made clear he wants to move swiftly to enact proposals he outlined during the campaign such as simplifying the tax code, slashing corporate tax rates and repealing and replacing Obama’s signature health insurance program known as Obamacare.

Republicans have long sought to dismantle Obamacare, insisting it was unworkable and hampered job growth. But they face a dilemma over how to provide health insurance for the 13.8 million people enrolled in Obamacare who could lose their coverage. The law aims to provide health insurance to economically disadvantaged people and expand coverage for others.

Trump kept up his attack on Tuesday, tweeting: “People must remember that ObamaCare just doesn’t work, and it is not affordable,” and adding, “It is lousy healthcare.”

Last month Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said in an interview with Kentucky Educational Television that before the election, he assumed Trump did not have a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton and that Democrats would retake control of the Senate, ending any talk of repealing Obamacare.

But following Trump’s win and Republicans retaining their Senate majority, the Republicans find they have to deliver on their campaign promise, even though they have not agreed on a replacement healthcare program.

McConnell has said his top priorities for the new Congress were dealing with the “massive overregulation” he said had been a brake on the U.S. economy and making changes in the tax code to stop companies from moving jobs out of the country.

Republican lawmakers also want to curtail regulations aimed at controlling industrial emissions that contribute to climate change, and roll back banking industry reforms enacted after the near-collapse of Wall Street in 2008.

Republicans might use upcoming spending bills funding government agencies to try to kill some of those regulations. Trump also is expected to try to use his executive powers toward that end.

OBAMACARE DEFENSE

The first meeting of the 115th Congress will be full of ceremony, as the 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the 100-member Senate are sworn in.

Amid the celebration will be a move by House Republicans to clear the decks for Obamacare repeal.

That will come in the form of a vote on rules governing House procedures in the two-year term of the chamber. Tucked into the rules package is a move to prevent Democrats from slowing or stopping Obamacare repeal legislation because of the potential cost to the U.S. Treasury of doing so.

Leading Democrats warned of a fierce battle over Obamacare and said they planned to mobilize grassroots support for it. Obama is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with congressional Democrats to discuss strategies for fending off the Republican attacks on Obamacare.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence said he would meet on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with lawmakers about plans for replacing Obamacare and rolling back other regulations.

Trump’s Cabinet nominees were to begin meeting with senators on Tuesday ahead of Senate confirmation hearings.

The Senate also is expected to receive a Supreme Court nomination from Trump early in his term to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February. Republicans refused to consider Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland last year.

Prominent Republican Senator John McCain has warned that Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for secretary of state, will have to explain his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who McCain has called a “thug and a murderer.”

Tillerson, who spent much of his career at Exxon Mobil Corp, has been involved in business dealings in Russia and opposed U.S. sanctions against Moscow for its incursion into Crimea.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Gina Cherulus in New York; Writing by Richard Cowan and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Trott)

IMAGE: U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) holds a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington January 7, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst 

House GOP Votes To Gut Independent Ethics Panel

House GOP Votes To Gut Independent Ethics Panel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on Monday to weaken a nonpartisan ethics watchdog on the grounds it had grown too intrusive, prompting Democrats to charge they were scaling back independent oversight ahead of a new legislative session.

As they returned to Washington following a holiday break, House Republicans voted in a closed-door meeting to place the Office of Congressional Ethics under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee, giving lawmakers greater control over an independent body charged with investigating their behavior.

The measure was added to a broader rules package that is expected to pass when the House formally convenes on Tuesday.

The ethics office was created in 2008 following several corruption scandals, but some lawmakers have charged in recent years that it has been too quick to investigate complaints lodged by outside partisan groups.

The body will now have to deliver its reports to lawmakers, rather than releasing them directly to the public, according to a summary released by Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte. It will be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review.

“The OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and this amendment does nothing to impede their work,” said Goodlatte, who sponsored the measure.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who created the ethics office while House speaker following complaints that lawmakers were unable to effectively police themselves, said Republicans were eliminating the only independent body charged with monitoring their actions.

“Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The move comes as Republicans who control both chambers of Congress are poised to repeal major portions of President Barack Obama’s health and environmental regulations and enact a conservative agenda once Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

IMAGE: A U.S. flag on a vehicle flutters as the sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol dome in the hours before President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington January 12, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst