“It’s clearly designed to emasculate the Office of Congressional Ethics,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist with the group Public Citizen.

Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who is running to be speaker, faces a possible probe, as do other House Republicans, for not complying with subpoenas from the Jan. The OCE was established in 2008 to offer more transparency to the public about congressional ethics probes and has investigated members of both parties.

Another provision says they have to make hiring decisions within the first 30 days, but they can’t do that without a full slate of board members.” “Without a full slate, then they can’t really take actions. “At first glance, it comes across as neutral, but it seems clear it hamstrings OCE,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause. The changes are more subtle than proposals in 2017 that caused a backlash that included criticism from then-President-elect Donald Trump and led the GOP to reverse course. Second, the OCE would have to make hiring decisions within the first 30 days, a potentially impossible task if the board does not have a full slate.

The proposals, part of a package of new rules for the chamber, appear subtle but would have a major impact on the OCE, ethics groups say.įirst, House Republicans have proposed term limits on OCE board members, a move that critics of the change say would disproportionately affect Democratic members of the bipartisan body. Ethics advocacy groups are sounding alarms that a proposal from House Republicans to change the Office of Congressional Ethics could gut the watchdog, leaving it unable to function.

Congressional watchdog groups