[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RESTORE ETHICS RULES IN HOUSE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, according to the morning papers, the 
Republican majority may now be ready to drop its new ethics rules and 
restore stronger rules that were written by Democrats and Republicans. 
It is about time.
  We need to restore the old rules immediately so the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct can begin investigating possible 
unethical behavior, questionable actions that have been in the national 
papers over the last couple of months.
  As the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority leader, said 
back in November 1995: ``The time has come that the American people 
know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. 
Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, 
getting wined and dined by special interest groups, or are they working 
hard to represent their constituents. The American people have a right 
to know.''
  That was the majority leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), 
10 years ago. The majority leader was right. The American people 
deserve answers; and, unfortunately, they will not get those answers 
under the weakened ethics rules. Hopefully, the Republican majority has 
come to its senses and will restore the old rules later this week. If 
the majority leader really believes his comments from 10 years ago, I 
would think he would join us in our fight.

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