title:  House Republicans Pave Way For Rampant Corruption Under Trump By Gutting Independent Ethics Panel
text: House Republicans just made it clear that they are for sale and intend to put ethics aside during Donald Trump s reign in the White House.On Monday night, Republicans voted 119-74 to cripple the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which has been an outside watchdog working to root out corruption by members of Congress ever since a string of lobbying scandals rocked Capitol Hill. Under Speaker Nancy Pelosi s leadership, the panel was created as a non-partisan entity and has done a good job.But Republicans are gutting it because the panel has done its job too well so they passed an amendment which basically gives them direct oversight of the panel and the power to kill investigations they don t like. So if the panel is investigating a Republicans, they can kill it and then turn around and allow an investigation against a Democrat.According to CNN,The proposal would bar the panel from reviewing any violation of criminal law by members of Congress, requiring that it turn over any complaint to the House Ethics Committee or refer the matter to an appropriate federal law enforcement agency. The House Ethics Committee would also have the power to stop an investigation at any point and bars the ethics office from making any public statements about any matters or hiring any communications staff.And the ethics office would no longer be able to accept or investigate any anonymous reports of alleged wrongdoing by members of Congress.Republicans claim that the ethics panel abused its power and that it  falsely accused  members of Congress of committing ethics violations. These members allegedly had to  spend a fortune  to defend themselves. Frankly, it sounds like Republicans are just mad because they got caught putting their hand in the cookie jar and they are attacking the panel to make sure they can t be caught again.By gutting the independent panel and placing it under their supervision, Republicans just paved the way for their members to commit crimes at will. They could a take a bribe from a lobbyist and then vote to kill any investigation that arises. It will create a free-for-all for lobbyists at a time when Republicans intend to consider infrastructure spending, tax cuts, and massive defense spending.This especially concerns Norman Eisen and Richard Painter, who served as ethics attorneys under President Obama and President Bush, because the 115th Congress  is setting itself up to be dogged by scandals and ethics issues for years and is returning the House to dark days when ethics violations were rampant and far too often tolerated. So not only will the White House be corrupt under Donald Trump, Republicans just guaranteed that the House of Representatives is going to be corrupt as well, proving once again that Republicans only care about using government to enrich themselves instead of helping the American people.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images