U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Image via Wikipedia
Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise. From: Judicial Watch
A New Ethics War Brewing in Congress? Don't count on it...
Politico posted an article this week talking about a new "ethics war" brewing in Congress. The point of the piece was that House Republicans are turning up the heat on Democrats by requesting an ethics probe into the relationship between earmarks and campaign contributions – a not-so-subtle jab at leading Democrats such as John Murtha, under fire for his relationship with PMA Group, "a lobby shop raided by federal authorities last year."
It's also a shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who filed a dozen resolutions calling for investigations into a number of Republicans when she was in the minority.
But here's a squib from the article that I found most interesting:
The Republicans have stopped short of filing formal complaints against any Democratic member — a move that would require a response by the House ethics committee.
Republicans say they don't want to ignite a full-blown ethics war like the one that dominated the House in the 1990s, but there's another cause for their caution: If they were to file a complaint against Murtha or anyone else, Democrats would retaliate by filing their own complaints against Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and Don Young (R-Alaska).
Because of this threat of mutually assured destruction, no member has filed a formal ethics complaint against another member since Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) did it to DeLay in 2004 — and he did so only after it was clear that he wouldn't be returning to Congress.
Not one ethics complaint filed by a member in five years! In other words, nothing has really changed. As long as Members of Congress are willing to protect each other (and only use "ethics" to score political points), we will never see any real attempt to hold corrupt members from either party accountable.
And whatever happened to the congressional ethics reform promised by Democrats during the 2006 election cycle? You may recall I testified before a House special task force in 2007 to give my recommendations for the most effective way to clean up corruption in Congress. I was worried at the time that any reforms that made it through Congress would be too watered down to be effective. I was right to be worried. There has been no meaningful ethics reform. Republicans don't want the rules enforced. And neither do Democrats.
The bottom line is this: As long as citizens and outside groups (like Judicial Watch) are prohibited from filing ethics complaints against corrupt members of Congress there will be no true ethics enforcement – no matter which party controls Congress.
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US House Financial Services Committee. Image via WikipediaGovernment reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise. From: OMB Watch
The pace at which Congress is considering the largest intervention into financial markets in the history of the United States, if not the world, is shocking. Over the weekend, the Bush administration proposed legislation that would grant it the authority to buy up toxic financial assets in an amount equal to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The magnitude of the funds requisitioned is matched only by the administration's requested level of unchecked power and opacity in how it would execute this historic market intervention. Congress has responded with uncharacteristic haste, setting the stage for passage of monumentally flawed legislation that purports to fix a yet-undiagnosed problem in roughly one week.
We do not pretend to know whether a bailout is needed or, if one is needed, what size and scope it should be. But most assuredly, rushed actions will result in quick fixes without resolving underlying problems. If economists and financial experts are correct in their assessment of the economy, Congress would be well advised to take a collective breath, slow down, and begin the process of study and deliberation that legislation of this historic magnitude deserves. If the economic crisis is as severe as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson now indicates, Congress can wait an extra week before adjourning or return during the final weeks of the election season to address this issue. That Democratic leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have neglected to mitigate the hysteria induced by an impending adjournment date that could easily be postponed is baffling and frustrating. After all, addressing national priorities is precisely why they were elected.
Paulson's initial request to Congress would have hid the actions of the Treasury from the sight of not only the public, but also from Congress and the courts. Sec 2(b)(2) of Paulson's legislative text would give his department authority to enter into contracts "without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts." Sec. 8 would make "[d]ecisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act … non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Paulson has agreed to modify these provisions, but it is a clear indicator that the administration has its sights set on virtually unchecked authority — much like what happened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Congress would be wise to ensure that significant oversight and accountability structures are in place. If Paulson or his successor can make unilateral decisions about contracts, for example, it will likely raise conflicts of interest. The firms most able to help the government dispose of toxic assets are likely the firms that are seeking the government bailout. Congress must be wary of ceding authority to a unilateral actor with no assurances of safeguarding the public from conflicts of interest.
Paulson's proposal would do what advocates and watchdogs of all ideological stripes abhor: it would socialize the risks (and bad decisions) of capitalism while privatizing the rewards. The Bush administration's toxic asset buyout program would purchase from financial firms and individuals assets that are now worth significantly less than the original purchase price. The plan calls for the government to relieve the financial industry of hundreds of billions (potentially trillions) of dollars of bad debt without receiving anything in return from these firms. Nothing. No one knows what the size or value of these debts will be. Progressives complain the taxpayers get no equity in the companies that created the bad debt; conservatives complain about government interference in the free market. This issue is at the crux of a major philosophical debate about the role of capitalism as this country moves into the 21st century.
Without attaching strings to a bailout, Washington would place an additional $2,000 of debt on the shoulders of each man, woman, and child in the country while encouraging the foolish and greedy decisions of Wall Street. It was the poor decisions of investment bankers that put the nation's entire economy at risk; it would be nothing less than immoral to enable and reward their reckless behavior as millions of Americans find themselves unemployed, losing their homes, and struggling to pay for food and electricity.
With nary a witness heard nor public forum entertained, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT), working with his counterpart in the lower chamber, chair of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank (D-MA), had started circulating the outline of the legislation his committee is likely to offer. However, Republican ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, Richard Shelby (R-AL), sensing the imprudent manner under which Congress is responding to the administration, believes "Congress must immediately undertake a comprehensive, public examination of the problem and alternative solutions rather than swiftly pass the current plan with minimal changes or discussion." Dodd's contribution is substantively promising, and Shelby's warning is well warranted and should be heeded. While things are shifting quickly, if a bailout is to occur, the legislation must adhere to the principles outlined in a letter co-authored by ACORN and the Campaign for America's Future, to which OMB Watch has signed on.
These guidelines include the set of principles that should be followed whenever Congress intervenes in the market:
* Ensure proper oversight will be conducted over the intervening agency * Protect the taxpayer by ensuring that the federal government not only assumes the risks of a bailout, but also shares in the benefits * Maintain a sensible regulatory framework under which assisted firms and individuals conduct business * Hold individuals accountable for their irresponsible behavior
In addition to these guidelines, consideration should be given to aiding individual citizens who continue to struggle to stay in their homes. Above all, Congress must conduct its deliberations transparently and be wary of potential conflicts of interest of those that seek to influence the legislative outcome.
It was only four days ago that Paulson asked Congress to pass legislation that would allow his department to use $700 billion to purchase mountains of bad debt. That's five percent of the nation's total economic annual output, or to put it another way, that's even more than what has been spent on the war in Iraq. With so much riding on the decisions and actions that our leaders are about to make at this pivotal moment in our history, every American deserves more than five days of Congress's time. Perhaps now, more than any other time, elected officials, particularly Congress, need to do more than prop up our expectations with short-term solutions. Instead, they should develop a clear understanding of all the components that led to this crisis. Only then will proposed reforms have lasting impact and ensure this type of problem is not allowed to happen again. Let's hope our leaders make the prudent decision to slow the process down and devise a wise policy solution that benefits our entire society.
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Left to right, Reps. Pelosi, Rangel, Sen. Durbin Image by Getty Images via Daylife Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise. From: Judicial Watch
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ignoring calls from fellow lawmakers to remove a veteran Democrat representative, who has repeatedly violated ethics rules and used his office to raise money from corporations with business before him, as chair of a powerful tax-writing committee.
Given Chairman Rangel’s continuing ethical lapses, the letter says, he cannot effectively carry out is duties as committee chair. Rangel’s latest violation, exposed by the media this week, evidently pushed his colleagues to finally call for his ouster from the prestigious committee which actually writes the federal tax code.
It turns out that the self-proclaimed champion of the poor has for decades excluded rental income—$75,000 in 20 years—from a luxurious Caribbean villa on federal and state tax returns. He also failed to mention the earnings on congressional financial disclosure forms which are sworn statements.
A few months earlier, Rangel was exposed by his hometown newspaper for having four extremely rare rent-stabilized apartments in New York—a violation of state and city regulations as well as House ethics rules—even though he regularly criticizes his district’s lack of affordable housing.
In the same week, news reports revealed that Rangel used his congressional office to solicit millions of dollars in donations from corporations with business interests before his panel. The money, about $30 million, will be used for a new academic center that will be named after him and eventually house his papers when he retires. Rangel got the project started with a highly controversial $1.9 million congressional earmark.
None of this seems to bother to Pelosi, who vowed to implement ethics reform when she took over as speaker with her infamous “maybe it takes a woman to clean house” rhetoric. Through a spokesman, Madam Speaker said the call to oust Rangel is a ploy to divert attention from the continuing fallout of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and its culture of corruption.
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Congress left for its traditional August recess after accomplishing nothing. Of the 106 bills enacted since January, 94, or 89 percent were to name government buildings or lands, extend or make technical corrections to existing laws, or passed either by unanimous consent or with less than 10 dissenting votes. The accomplishments included "Frank Sinatra Day," National Plumbing Industry Week," and "National Day of the Cowboy."
The deadline for passing the 12 annual appropriations bills has been deliberately ignored. Only one of the bills has passed the House, and only four others have been approved by the House Appropriations Committee. In the Senate, nine have been approved by the Appropriations Committee but none have reached the floor.
[...]
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Common Cause is asking us to send a message to US House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi; there should be no immunity from legal action against President Bush and the telecom companies for illegally wiretapping US citizens a few years ago.
CREW, a public advocacy organization, has posted information about a letter sent today to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner asking that the House leaders start cooperating with law enforcement authorities pursuing legitimate criminal investigations involving members of Congress.
Leaders of the House have been improperly shielding members of Congress – including former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) -- from criminal investigation and prosecution through an expansive and aggressive interpretation of the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.
Members of Congress, like all other citizens, can hire attorneys to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected; this is not, however, the job of the House general counsel, hired at taxpayer expense.
In the wake of the 2006 elections, new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Dem-CA) began the process of developing a U.S. House ethics group to support the already in place House Ethics Committee. Unfortunately, as Melanie Sloan points out in her interview on C-Span, the long-awaited recommendations for the new group fail to (1) accept ethics complaints from outside of the House, and (2) subpoena House members for ethics complaint investigation purposes.
If you agree with CREW's Ms. Sloan, please contact your U.S. Representativein support of receiving outside of house ethics complaints from the public, and in support of house member subpoena powers for ethics investigations.
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