The House GOP majority reversed course Tuesday on a move that would have weakened an independent congressional watchdog, after party leaders, including President-elect Donald Trump, voiced their opposition to the original action.
Republicans voted in a closed-door session Monday to place an altered Office of Congressional Ethics under the House Ethics Committee and rein in its reporting authority. The decision was reportedly criticized by House speaker Paul Ryan, and Trump weighed in on Twitter with his negative feedback the following morning.
The GOP ultimately scrapped its plan in the face of dissent. According to a report from Bloomberg, however, some members still expect the proposal to come up separately.
More from the New York Times:
The reversal came less than 24 hours after House Republicans, meeting in a secret session, voted, over the objections of Speaker Paul D. Ryan, to eliminate the independent ethics office. It was created in 2008 in the aftermath of a series of scandals involving House lawmakers, including three who were sent to jail. Mr. Trump criticized House Republicans on Tuesday for their move to gut the office, saying they should focus instead on domestic policy priorities such as health care and a tax overhaul. In a pair of postings on Twitter, Mr. Trump called the Office of Congressional Ethics “unfair,” but he said focusing on it now was a case of misplaced priorities. He appended the hashtag “DTS,” an apparent allusion to his promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington.
