Support H. RES. 131

Support House Resolution 131 to re-adopt the prior ethics committee rules so that the committee can operate fairly. Submitted by Rep Alan Mollohan of West Virginia. In effort to protect House Majority Leader Tom DeLay from accountability for his unethical behavior the Republicans are attempting changed the ethic rules in their favor. The first change is the Automatic Dismissal Rule, which requires the committee to consider an act on any complaint within a period as short as 45 days or else the complaint will be automatically dismissed. Since the committee has 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats one party can just let a complaint die by not doing anything. Under the prior rules a complaint could be disposed of only by a committee vote, committee members were required to analyze the claims made in a complaint, to collect and consider additional information on the conduct in issue, and to discuss complaints among themselves in an effort to reach a resolution. So now there is really NO ethical oversight of the most unethical people in America. The leadership in the house has gone too far and is spinning this as a Democratic ploy of partisanship. If congress ever needed oversight of ethics it needs it now.