>House Republicans, defying their top leaders, voted Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
>The move to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics was not public until late Monday, when Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change with no advance public notice or debate.
>In its place, a new Office of Congressional Complaint Review would be set up within the House Ethics Committee, which before the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics had been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html
They're not even pretending anymore.
>>96447
/po... I mean /news/ will just brush this under the rug.
Don't worry anon, the swamp is drained, any corruption will be exposed by the Donald on his Twitter account from now on.
Don't worry about it :^)
>>96447
Isn't this the office that would have been investigating Trump?
>>96467
Yeah.
>>96447
>don't worry guys, we're for smaller government
>the first thing we'll downsize is the government ethics and oversight groups
>did I say first thing? I meant only thing. Now to put forward legislation to give myself a well earned raise...
>>96485
With all that bribe money coming in, they'll never need a raise.
>>96494
It's ok though. It's more money for everyone.
>Trickle down economics works
Now it can finally be implemented into the system to work the way it's supposed to work.
>Draining the swamp
>Step 1: Remove drain from swamp
>Step 2: Go fuck yourself
We deserve this.
>>96495
>Businessmen bribe politicians
>Businessmen get rich off of political favors
>More money goes into paying for bribes
>???
>profit
>>96497
steps 1-3 are already profit, why are there question marks?
>No brietbart or fox news articles about this
Huh, imagine that
>>96499
I found one on fox news buried way way deep. I was trying to find one from a source that /pol/ wouldn't immediately dismiss like BBC or NPR. It never saw the front page as far as I can tell and was free of the characteristic editorializing. Just a brief statement of the fact that an office was being shut down.
>>96447
>an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
Sounds to me like they set up this ethics office to keep members of Congress from going to jail.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38494455
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have voted to weaken the body that investigates claims of misconduct
against members of Congress.
>Under the change, the independent Office of Congressional Ethics would come under the control of the House Ethics Committee.
>Republican leaders in the House had opposed the change. The newly elected Congress meets later and the full House will vote on the proposed new rules.
>Democrats reacted angrily to the vote.
>The vote happened behind closed doors on a bank holiday, with no advance notice the issue
was being considered.
>It came on the eve of the start of a major power shift in Washington, with Republicans now holding all the levers of power for the first time in nine years.
----
>What does this change do?
>The proposals, tabled in an amendment to House rules by Congressman Bob Goodlatte, would weaken the body's oversight of matters such as conflicts of interests and financial
impropriety.
>If the new rules package is voted in - as is likely as the Republicans have a clear majority - the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) would be renamed the Office of Congressional
Complaint Review.
>Under the proposals the new body would no longer be able to receive anonymous tip-offs, nor have a spokesperson, and would be under the supervision of the House Ethics Committee. Accusations against lawmakers would not be made public, as they are currently.
>Any referral to law enforcement agencies would have to be approved by members of the committee.
>>96498
>being this new
>>96529
Wew, el Trumpo was right; the system IS rigged
Can't wait for the next four years of US politics to look like Dubya 2: Straight-to-video feat. Mike Pence's electric boogayloo
>>96531
It's gonna be a lot worse because bush at least had the pretense of being a legit politician on his side. Trump is a reality tv star and not a whole lot more. Only the system is rigged in his favor
>>96571
You do know that liberals are more than half of the country, right? They're just as American as you are.
>>96577
>You do know that liberals are more than half of the country, right? They're just as American as you are.
>we're all American meme
Fuck no. Cancer is apart of a body, but that doesn't mean it's good.
>>96579
Well, Trump will be able to stock the courts, so we'll likely get a lot of laws overturned.
>>96580
Way to be a fascist /pol/tard.
Changed their minds about it.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/politics/office-of-congressional-ethics-oversight-of-ethics-committee-amendment/
>>96630
Well thank you Trump for pointing that out.
>>96579
Anyone who went out to vote for Trump is going out of their way to destroy this country, conservatives and facsists use to just be a benign tumor.
>>96571
True.
Anti-corruption investigations disproportionately target Republicans due to their corrupt nature.
>>96630
"The swift developments were a first sign of how Trump plans to govern and wield the power of his presidency -- and his Twitter account -- to bend Washington to his will and an early indication of the new power dynamic between Congress and the White House.
Trump called out his fellow Republicans for proposing to curb the powers of the independent ethics panel as their first move of the year, although the President-elect suggested the ethics panel was "unfair."
"With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it ... may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS," Trump said over two consecutive tweets."
>>96666
So it isn't that he didn't want them to weaken it, he's mad because he didn't want them to do it while everyone is watching on the first day of Congress.
I'm sure Jack Abramhoff is beside himself at this.
>>96666
>>96675
He's still going to spin it as "look how amazing I am, I made Congress do a thing" even though his reasoning is flawed (and straight up wrong). Honestly between this, "his" deals to keep jobs (that he's taking credit for even though he had no part), and the strengthening economy this man is getting a series of small, free boosts to his rating before he's even in office not unlike the Iran hostage crisis being solved during the inauguration gave Reagan a free boost.
>>96655
Was that the same excuse the IRS gave?
>>96579
cringe
>>96689
The truth sadly poorly is no less true, you just mad
>>96692
America is no one ideology. The beauty of america is that it has so many different political and ideological belief systems all together in one great nation. The more you claim it to be 'your america', the more toxic the political climate becomes.
>>96694
>The beauty of america is that it has so many different political and ideological belief systems all together in one great nation.
no it isn't. the constitution and Bill of rights outline an ideology that is totally distinct from the rest of the world. even 1st world nations, nobody has as much liberty as an American.
(Australia put a woman to jail because she didn't seem sad enough about her dead kid, so they assumed she killed him)
America is the only place where shit like this doesn't happen.
ungrateful shit.
>>96700
Liberal and conservative are both misnomers, which do not accurately describe any political party.
>>96687
Isn't it true?
>>96467
Ironically, Trump is not in favor of this and is supporting the democrats.
>>96696
>(Australia put a woman to jail because she didn't seem sad enough about her dead kid, so they assumed she killed him)
Are you telling me jury's don't do this in America?
Any court show you watch (inb4 court show) has a bunch of idiots sentencing someone not based on fact but because how they acted in court and after their loved one's death.
Though tbh some 1st world countries have some fucky things, like how Italy will imprison people just for public outcry and release them once it isn't a big deal (think geologists who didn't predict an earthquake).
It doesn't matter as I'm going to win £1000000 using the kek and Pepe meme and all its cartoony might. Simply by posting this I receive a get which it's pure conspiracy gold!! Hillary was never going to win this election for no other reason than the fact she was a woman and Merica wasn't going to vote her in. It had nothing to do with trump or emails or Russia, just a simple truth
>>96769
>Are you telling me jury's don't do this in America?
yes, this does not happen in America. But it happens literally everywhere else.
We are presumed innocent in America, and it's a unique system. That woman in Australia would have been safe in America, because there was no evidence she harmed her child.
>>96769
>Any court show you watch (inb4 court show) has a bunch of idiots sentencing someone not based on fact but because how they acted in court and after their loved one's death.
First of all, court shows are not real court. Watch the disclaimer after one of them, it'll say how nobody pays any fees on these shows. It's like, the show pays their court fees in exchange for entertainment.
and, our courts don't make decisions based on what the victims family wants.
America's cool. if other countries would only adopt our bill of rights wed be better off.
>>96571
>Stop politically profiling me!
>Can't prove I'm corrupt just because I'm Republican
The fucking irony.
>>96531
>Wew, el Trumpo was right; the system IS rigged
Well of fucking course he was right. He outright admitted to exploiting the system being rigged.
Trump couldn't be any worse than clinton, obama or any other.
Trump will do a certain stupid, and clinton would have done another stupid: in the end, everyone will suffer their stupid.
Not a peep about the congressional term limit bill being proposed eh? Doesn't fit the narrative.
>>96901
>house reps can only serve for six years
Nothing more than Ted Cruz grandstanding.
>>96901
News networks only care about money, that's not controversial or interesting enough to get people watching.
>>97006
>>96993
On top of that it's got a a snowball's chance in hell of ever being passed. You're asking half of 535 people to agree to limit their own power, some of whom have been serving for literally decades. It will never fucking happen, you've got better odds of passing a constitutional amendment with 3/4 of states behind it and even then it's still bad odds.
>>96901
Only good thing Cruz has done, though there's probably a loophole somewhere in the bill.
>>96901
Proposed every term by some rep/sen, never gets past committee. If by some miracle it gets to the floor there is no debate because it is overwhelmingly voted down as it has been thoroughly debated in the past. Even if it does ever pass, it likely wouldn't survive legal challenge -- term limits would probably require a Constitutional Amendment.
That's why there's no media coverage, dumbfuck.
>>96464
#MAGA #DrainTheSwamp #BrokenPromises
>>96752
Fuck off Jew shill. He was only upset that they went for this first, and went out of his way to say it was an unfair system he didn't like. Can't believe you kike drones are already trying to rewrite facts.
>>96447
These next two years are going to be a fucking mess. I hope that once Congress flips, Trump will pull a Nixon and actually let some good shit get passed.
>>96681
Can't even give him credit when he does something right