Contending that the House and Senate ethics committees have failed to do their jobs, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) “outlined a plan for an ethics enforcement commission that would receive complaints from the public as well as from legislators, have subpoena and deposition powers, and could present cases to the House and Senate ethics committees or the Justice Department.” The Associated Press reports on Obama’s efforts in the Senate to create an outside enforcement body and the efforts of Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Chris Shays (R-CT) to do the same in the House. Meehan and Shays “introduced a bill to create an office of public integrity – a professional, independent, nonpartisan office to investigate ethics complaints.”