House Republicans drop plans to gut Ethics Office

The Obama administration is suggesting it is “rather revealing” that House Republicans planned to gut an independent congressional ethics board.

Republicans dropped plans Tuesday to neuter the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, just a day after the plan was proposed.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it was an attempt by the Republicans to “skirt responsibility” and predicted it would not be the last time they try to “help people in positions of power and influence escape accountability.”

“That’s not draining the swamp,” said Earnest Tuesday, referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to end corruption in Washington.

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House Republicans dropped plans to gut the independent ethics office after widespread criticism and questions from President-elect Donald Trump about GOP priorities.

In a reversal, the House GOP decided on Tuesday to strip the provision from a package of rule changes that lawmakers will vote on later in the day.

Said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma: “People didn’t want this story on opening day.”

House Republicans had voted Monday night to change the rules.

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A coalition of government watchdogs and scholars is expressing concern about a vote by House Republicans to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.

The groups, including Common Cause, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Judicial Watch, say in a letter to House leaders that the ethics office has strengthened congressional accountability since its creation in 2008.

The letter says the ethics office “has helped change a secretive and oft-perceived moribund ethics enforcement process” into one that is more accountable, active and bipartisan.

The letter comes after GOP House members voted behind closed doors Monday to give lawmakers themselves ultimate control over the ethics office, which was created after several bribery and corruption scandals sent lawmakers to prison.

Scholars including Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann also signed the letter.

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President-elect Donald Trump is questioning the move by House Republicans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, arguing that tax reform and health care should be higher priorities.

In two tweets on Tuesday, Trump reacted to the closed-door vote of Republicans to put the independent OCE under the auspices of the lawmaker-run House Ethics Committee.

Trump’s first tweet said, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it.”

He followed up with a second that said. “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS”

“DTS” stands for “drain the swamp.”

The House is slated to vote on Tuesday on the rules changes.