The House Ethics Committee caved to public pressure,
and quickly reversed itself two days after a secret ruling that changed
eliminated a rule requiring members of Congress to publicly disclose
the free trips they were getting from lobbyists.
A few days ago, we wrote about the House Ethics Committee secretly
eliminating a rule that required members of Congress to disclose free
trips worth tens of thousands of dollars that were paid for by
lobbyists. It was ironic that the House Ethics Committee made a secret decision that was designed to avoid transparency.
After a great public outcry, the House Ethics Committee quickly reversed course.
According to The Hill,
“House Ethics Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway said Thursday on a
local Texas radio program that his panel would overturn a change to
annual disclosure forms that removed the requirement of lawmakers to
report on privately funded trips.”
By not publicizing the change in the rules, it was
clear that the House Ethics Committee knew what they were doing was
wrong. Members of Congress often think that they can sneak things past
the folks back home, but in the age of the Internet, someone is always
watching. As soon as a bit of light was shined on the subject, the
members of the Ethics Committee quickly backtracked.
The Citizens United decision has allowed corporate
and billionaire dollars to have too much influence over the nation’s
politics. The reason for the gridlock in Congress is
because repugican members of the House and Senate work for their big
money donors, not the repugican cabal, or their constituents. This
decision by the Ethics Committee was a sign that many members of
Congress wanted to be bought with luxury trips and private jet rides.
The American people told them no, and Congress was
delivered a stern reminder that it doesn’t matter who writes the checks
for their reelection campaigns, they work for the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment