As Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives flip-flopped on rolling back the Office of Congressional Ethics, which investigates lawmaker misconduct, U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, said she did not support gutting the office.
House Republicans voted to weaken the ethics office on Monday night, placing it under the control of the House Ethics Committee. The change, however, was ultimately dropped Tuesday following criticism from President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Ms. Stefanik argued that any ethics changes should be made on a “bipartisan basis.” She released a statement on the matter Tuesday via Facebook.
“I strongly believe that Members of Congress should serve as a model to the public for ethical and accountable behavior,” she said in the statement. “This is why I am a leader in Congress when it comes to transparency and accountability, including posting my votes publicly to Facebook and releasing my personal financial information. I oppose the ethics amendment to the House rules and believe it should be removed from the rules package. I believe there need to be reforms to the ethics process but that they should be implemented on a bipartisan basis.”
The move to change the rule was spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., with the final vote being 119-74 Monday night. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was against the amendment, but later said that he is in favor of reforming the office, which was designated in 2008, according to CNN.
Mr. Trump released his criticism of the change via Twitter, saying that House Republicans should be focusing on other issues to start off the 115th Congress.
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