House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pledged that the House will self-police ethics in the 115th Congress as vigorously as the Office of Congressional Ethics has even though the office will no longer be an independent entity.

“I want to make clear that this House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and the office will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress,” Ryan said after House Republicans surprisingly voted Monday night to move the office, created in 2008 to help keep House members more honest, under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee.