Nebraska Democratic Party Response to House GOP Gutting Ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n Trumps Floods the Swamp<\/strong><\/p>\n Quote:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump and his Republican Party are living up to our worst expectations by gutting basic checks and balances our government has in place with basic ethics rules,” said Jane Kleeb, Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party. \u201cNebraskans want to know how Fischer, Sasse, Bacon, Fortenberry and Smith intend to vote on Republicans flooding the swamp by gutting the ethics office.\u201d<\/p>\n \u80cc\u666f\uff1a<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Between 2-4pm EST today, House Republicans will vote on gutting the office that serves as the\u00a0ethics\u00a0watchdog as part of a Rules package.<\/p>\n The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was created to\u00a0prevent the kind of\u00a0corruption that\u00a0appalled voters\u00a0the last time the Republicans had one-party control in Washington. By crippling the OCE, House Republicans are signaling a return to the days of Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay (both who served jail time), when Republican corruption in Congress\u00a0ran rampant. Americans who were misled by Trump\u2019s empty promise to drain the swamp should be livid at this latest corrupt power grab by Washington Republicans.<\/p>\n On the first day of the 115th Congress, Republicans are advancing a set of new rules for the new Congress \u2013 a power grab tailor-made to grease the GOP\u2019s special interest agenda at the expense of the American people.<\/p>\n Eliminating Independent House Ethics Oversight\u00a0\u2013 The night before the new Congress, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions.\u00a0 Republicans have voted to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics, preventing it from reviewing anonymous complaints and moving it under the control of the Committee on Ethics.\u00a0 Instead of working for the highest ethical standards, House Republicans have acted to silence would-be whistleblowers and make it easier to hide their misconduct from the American people.<\/p>\n