In an ironic twist, following president-elect Trump's urging to kill a bill that would have severely diminished Congress' Ethics Office power, The Hill reports that Democrats are calling on Senate Republicans to delay hearings for Trump's Cabinet picks, citing an incomplete ethics screening of several nominees.
As a reminder, House Republicans abruptly voted on Monday night to eliminate the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the chamber’s nonpartisan ethics board which investigates lawmakers' alleged misconduct, largely stripping it of its power, leading to pushback from Democrats and government watchdog groups. House Republicans, meeting as a group Monday night, approved an amendment from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte that would place the office under the oversight of the lawmaker-run House Ethics Committee.
Trump responded…
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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
Which led House Republicans to hold an emergency meeting, resulting in… (via The Hill)
House Republicans at an emergency conference meeting on Tuesday withdrew a proposal to gut an ethics watchdog.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered a motion to restore the current OCE rules, and that was accepted by the GOP conference.
The new Congress hadn't even formally gaveled in on before GOP leaders held an emergency conference meeting to discuss the blowback against the party's vote Monday evening to gut the chamber's independent ethics watchdog.
And so now, as The Hill reports, Democrats are using that rescued 'power' to try to delay confirmation of Trump's cabinet picks…
Early on Saturday, the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, a watchdog agency that conducts ethics reviews of all Cabinet appointments, said that the plan to hold confirmation hearings before the ethics reviews are complete is "of great concern."
“As OGE’s director, the announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me,” Walter Shaub, Jr., said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“It is unprecedented and deeply worrisome to hold confirmation hearings on President-elect Donald Trump's nominees before basic ethics reviews are completed," Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
"These rushed hearings must be delayed until the ethics reviews are finished, and if Trump and the GOP-led Senate fail to do so, the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that they are concerned about what will be exposed,” Watson added.
Schumer blasted the timing of the scheduled hearings, accusing Republican lawmakers of trying to "jam through" the nominees.
The GOP hoped to hold confirmation hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday as the party seeks to usher a smooth transition of power to the new administration. The nominees currently scheduled for the next week's hearings include former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, Trump's pick for secretary of State; Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's pick for attorney general; and Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for Education secretary.
And as one would imagine Trump's team strongly disagrees with "head clown" Schumer's view of the hearings… (via The Hill)
Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday there's “no reason” to delay confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees until their background checks are complete.
“No, they have to get moving. They have to move faster,” Priebus told "Fox News Sunday." “They have all the information. These are people that have been highly successful in their lives. They need to move quicker.
“The fact is there’s no reason,” he added. “It’s the first week of January, they have all the details that they need, they have all the information that they need, it’s no different from any other new administration coming in. The American people demand it. Change was voted for and change we will get.”
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