On January 2nd, 2017, the House Republican Conference voted 119-74 to undermine the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) with no advance public notice nor disclosure of the amendment for debate. The vote was secret.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, after a storm of criticism, the U.S. House backed down on this bid to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics. The House adopted a motion by ouse Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to delete the amendment by Rep. Goodlatte amendment from the rules package. McCarthy proposed a bipartisan effort to draft changes to OCE that would be delivered by Congress’ August recess. That measure was accepted by conference by acclamation.
You can see the existing public “whip count” — or voting record — of how Members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in the spreadsheet embedded below. If you don’t see your Representative listed, please call your Member of Congress and ask if he or she voted for the Goodlatte Amendment to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. Then, click this link and add the answer to the document. If enough people call, we can figure out who voted for it and who did not.
