John, House Republicans are determined to gut the only independent internal House watchdog working to enforce ethical standards in Congress.
They passed outrageously tight arbitrary term limits and replacement deadlines clearly intended to disqualify several Democratic board members, risking institutional knowledge and opening the door to extreme partisan bias in ethics investigations.
While Democrats were able to act quickly and appoint new board members this time, ethics in Congress shouldn’t depend on the whims of the House majority. Congress must pass the CLEAN Act and codify the OCE into law permanently.
We deserve a strong congressional ethics watchdog in the House. Sign our petition to tell Congress to pass the CLEAN Act and commit to more accountability in government.
The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) is an independent House ethics watchdog that Common Cause and others worked to create in 2008. It helped clean up corruption and make sure members of Congress were playing by the rules.
But right now, there’s no law permanently establishing this office. It only exists in the House rules package – and has to be reauthorized every two years as new House members are elected. It also doesn’t have subpoena power – limiting its ability to enforce any ethical standards.
The House Republicans’ rules package attempted to weaken this office. But our elected officials cannot play both judge and jury when investigating charges against their own colleagues. Without an internal, independent watchdog enforcing ethics, politicians could simply choose to look the other way – and expect their friends to do the same for them.
The CLEAN Act would codify this office into law – strengthening the OCE and giving it real power to investigate and enforce consequences for misconduct.
If you believe we need to hold our elected officials to the highest ethical standards, call on Congress to pass the CLEAN Act now.
If we want a government that will truly work for all of us, we must be able to stop corruption as it occurs.
I’m so glad to have you with us,
Sarah Trindell, Senior Digital Campaigner
and the team at Common Cause
