The current Congress is almost halfway through the first year of its term. Congress has considered numerous pieces of legislation over the past several months, including the For the People Act, which Campaign Legal Center supports.
The past half-year has also reminded us that Congress still has work to do to keep its own house in order, in terms of ethics.
These were for two separate issues: CLC’s complaint against Rep. McCarthy alleged he received a discount on a luxury apartment as an improper gift, and CLC’s complaint against Rep. Malinowski alleged that he failed to disclose stock transactions.
Ethics rules exist, and must be enforced, because members of Congress make decisions that affect Americans’ lives, and we need to be able to trust that they are prioritizing the public’s interest above their own self-interest.
In the previous four years, much of the attention on ethics in Washington was focused on the executive branch. This was understandable, given the significant number of departures from previous ethics norms and violations of law by Trump administration officials.
In the post-Trump era, though, we can bring congressional ethics further into focus, and it is necessary that we continue to do so. Congressional ethics is a major focus of CLC’s ethics program this year.
A key area where reform is needed is enforcement. Ethics rules don’t mean much if they are not enforced.
This is especially true for the U.S. Senate. When it comes to ethics enforcement, the U.S. Senate isn't transparent and doesn't hold officials accountable for ethics violations. CLC's comparative study of ethics enforcement in the Senate and House of Representatives back in February concluded just that. During the past ten years, only 3% of complaints investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee—the only formal body created to discipline senators for misconduct—resulted in the finding of a violation. The committee formally dismissed 52% of all complaints it investigated, and we don’t know what happened to the remaining 45% of investigated complaints (Were they ignored? Kept open indefinitely?) because the Senate produces so few reports and little other information is available.
These statistics are more than simply numbers. The matters often involve serious allegations. For example, in 2020, two senators solicited campaign contributions from Senate office buildings on live television, blatantly violating the criminal prohibition of fundraising in federal buildings. Despite what appeared to be clear-cut violations, the Senate Ethics Committee failed to respond.
The current Senate Ethics Committee, while bipartisan, is still comprised of colleagues of those against whom complaints are filed. Fortunately, there are solutions that can help ensure Senators hold themselves accountable. The Senate should follow the model of the House and create an independent ethics enforcement body, like the House’s Office of Congressional Ethics, and give that body real teeth to do its job: holding elected officials accountable to the public. Both the Office of Congressional Ethics and a Senate equivalent should have subpoena power so they can actually conduct meaningful investigations. CLC supports these reforms.
Congressional stock trading also creates problems, as our complaint against Rep. Malinowski has highlighted, and there are solutions as well. CLC has drawn attention to the issue of congressional stock trading before, and I wrote one of my emails around this time last year about congressional stock trading at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the concerns that presented.
Trading stocks while making decisions on behalf of the public can create conflicts of interest. Therefore, CLC advocates for restricting individual stock trading by members of Congress while they are in office. This would ensure that the public can trust that government decisions aren’t influenced by the personal financial concerns of members.
As Congress considers legislation throughout the rest of its term, passing ethics reform can help restore public confidence in our institutions and ensure that government is accountable to the people. Congress should prioritize this in the coming months.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center is dedicated to advancing democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.
