Washington, D.C. - After passing the strongest ethics and lobbying reforms since the Watergate era, Rep. Berman last night backed congressional ethics reforms that will establish an Office of Congressional Ethics and help hold members of Congress accountable for their actions. The new House Rule was approved by a vote of 229-182 and does not require Senate consideration.

 

“Democrats were sent to Washington to end the culture of corruption in our nation’s capital,” said Rep. Berman. “We have already passed landmark lobbying reform laws and today, we have taken another step to require, for the first time in history, an independent review of alleged ethics violations by individuals who are not Members of Congress to ensure that credible allegations of wrongdoing are examined by the Ethics Committee.”

 

The new House rule creates the Office of Congressional Ethics, which will be comprised of six individuals appointed jointly by the Speaker and the Minority Leader.  Current members of Congress and lobbyists would not be eligible to serve on the panel.

 

The panel has the power to initiate investigations of Members of Congress when it deems appropriate. Investigations could only be initiated if supported by a Democratic and Republican member of the panel. At the conclusion of an investigation, the panel would report its findings to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics Committee) and recommend whether the committee should review the allegations.

 

“The Democratic Congress is serious about changing the way business is done in Washington,” added Berman. “We must strengthen the ethics process to ensure that Members of Congress are held accountable for their actions and do not violate the public trust.”

 

Nationally respected, independent, non-partisan organizations including Common Cause, U.S. PIRG, Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Tom Mann of the Brookings Institution support this reform.

 

The new rules follows the enactment of The Honest Leadership, Open Government Act, which brought unprecedented transparency to lobbyists’ activities and was hailed by reform groups as a “sea change for citizens” and “landmark reform.”

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