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.
REUTERS
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