[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 146-147]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 ETHICS

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, just a few hours after they 
attempted to kill the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and 
strip it for parts, Republicans backed down in the face of public 
outrage. It speaks volumes that the first thing Republicans attempted 
to do was weaken ethical standards and that they only changed course 
once their efforts were exposed to the public. This is not what the 
American people sent us here to do.

[[Page 147]]

  It seems that, contrary to rhetoric, Republicans don't want to drain 
the swamp. They want to fill it up. This is wrong, and it is critical 
that Members of Congress be accountable and adhere to the highest 
ethical standards.
  In the weeks ahead, it is critical that all of us hold the majority 
accountable and prevent them from going back to the days when thinly 
veiled bribes, kickbacks, and worse were commonplace in this town.
  We need more ethical reforms in Congress, not less. That is why I 
have introduced the ETHICS Act, to require every Member of Congress to 
undergo the same annual ethics training that their staffs have to 
complete. That is why I am asking Members of both parties to demand 
better from our elected officials than what we saw over the last 48 
hours.

                          ____________________