New documents force House Ethics commmittee into spotlight
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/07/art.rangel.gi.jpg caption="New York congressman Charlie Rangel is one of the most prominent names being investigated by the House Ethics committee."]
Editor's Note: Documents leaked from the House of Representatives Ethics committee, one of the most secretive and closely guarded in Congress, has forced the panel to publicly acknowledge at least eight active investigations into ethics breaches from current members of the House of Representatives. One of the most prominent names on that list has been Representative Charlie Rangel, Democrat from New York and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Lisa Desjardins
CNN Political Ticker
Congressional Republicans intensified their calls for powerful House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel of New York to resign his post heading the committee, at least temporarily.
Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, introduced a motion that would have forced Rangel to step down during an ongoing ethics investigation into his finances and activities.
House Democrats responded by voting to shut off debate and instead send the resolution to the House Ethics Committee, where the matter has sat for a year. The move to effectively kill the resolution by sending it to the committee passed on a mostly party-line 246-153 vote.
The vote has no significant effect but shows Republicans are turning up the heat on Rangel and hoping to score political points by highlighting the ethics probe.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Ethics |
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Why does it take months or years to bring up charges on Dems and most of them don't even step down when they are shown to be guilty? No integrity.
Representative,Charlie Rangel of New York should resign his post
I'm a democratic From NJ and see this as a creme against the US people. How dare they think they are above the law, even if they write it.
If the charges are a smear campaign then why doesn't Rangel temporarily step aside and let the charges be investigated while he works on health care, etc. Then the GOP wouldn't have his refusal to step aside to natter about and hopefully the charges will prove to be as groundless as Rangel says they are. That way he takes one target away from the anti-health care people and he is cleared before re-election time (assuming that is next year). His refusal to do this truly looks like he has something to hide.