[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 48 (Wednesday, April 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
     WEAKENED ETHICS RULES: NO WONDER REPUBLICANS ARE SO CONFIDENT

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, what are House Republicans afraid of? True, 
there are constant newspaper reports about a member of the Republican 
leadership participating in questionable activities dealing with 
Washington lobbyists, trips overseas and questionable financial 
dealings. However, if Republicans are so confident that these 
activities do not constitute a breaking of the House rules, why have 
the Republicans made it virtually impossible for the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct to do its job?
  Earlier this year, the Republicans weakened the ethics rules. Under 
the new Republican rules, if a majority of the committee cannot 
determine whether or not an investigation should proceed after 45 days 
of receiving a complaint, it would simply be dropped. Under the old 
bipartisan ethics rules, a subcommittee was created after the 45-day 
deadline to investigate the ethics charges.
  It is no wonder Republican leaders are so confident. If they keep 
their Republican troops on the committee in line, they do not have to 
worry about an investigation. And this is no way to run an ethics 
committee. It is time that House Republicans join the Democrats in 
rejecting these new rules in favor of fair, bipartisan rules that 
restore confidence to the House ethics process.

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