In 2017, when House Republicans tried to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), hundreds of thousands of outraged Americans urged their representatives to preserve this independent watchdog. Then-President-elect Donald Trump, who ran his campaign in part on “draining the swamp,” complained about House Republicans’ effort to decimate the OCE and tweeted, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog…their number one act and priority”?
House Republicans eventually relented, but as we approach a new Congress in January, the question remains, will they preserve the OCE or allow corruption to set in? It has become an unfortunate tradition in recent years for the newly elected Congress to try to defang the OCE. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle have been guilty of this, especially those who have been the subject of investigations or scrutiny.
The OCE was created in 2008 after a series of bribery scandals involving members the U.S. House of Representatives — Tom DeLay, John Doolittle, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Mark Foley — who all retired, resigned, or were defeated after their scandals came to light.
And after the rise and fall of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was sent to prison for unprecedented corruption, including fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion, Common Cause and other organizations helped establish the OCE.
The office was created in a bipartisan vote — with several dozen Republicans in support, as well as the support of conservative groups, like Judicial Watch. That’s because without the OCE, there was no independent body responsible for holding power accountable in the U.S. House of Representatives.
And from the outset, the OCE brought accountability to the House ethics process, and it has always done so in an even-handed and nonpartisan manner.
In its 15-plus years of existence, the OCE has investigated nearly the same number of Republicans and Democrats. Through Summer 2023, the OCE had investigated a total of 242 cases — 118 involving Democrats and 124 involving Republicans. To date, 228 of those cases have been resolved, with 104 referred by the OCE to the House Ethics Committee for further review. Of those referrals, 52 have involved Republicans and 52 have involved Democrats.
Before the OCE, House members served as both judge and jury when considering ethical charges against their colleagues, a process that could hardly be described as “fair” or “neutral.”
And while it’s an imperfect entity — it doesn’t have subpoena authority and doesn’t have enforcement ability if members refuse to cooperate — it serves an important oversight function to prevent members from jointly ignoring each other’s ethics scandals.
In fact, the independent ethics body has continued to thrive despite regular attempts to defund, hamstring or do away with the office entirely — efforts in 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2023. In each of these efforts, Common Cause led the opposition.
To prevent future efforts to undermine the Office of Congressional Ethics, Congress must make several reforms to the OCE. First, instead of having to be reauthorized in the House rules package every two years, it should be codified into law and made permanent.
Second, although many congressional offices comply with information requests from the OCE, it lacks enforcement powers, so giving it teeth will help ensure compliance.
And third, removing it from the regular appropriations process (similar to how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded) would help insulate the OCE from partisan politics and will help ensure it can continue achieving its mission for another 15 years and beyond.
Federal agencies have inspectors general, states have independent ethics commissions, and Congress likewise continues to need the OCE to serve as a robust independent ethics watchdog.
Concerned citizens who care about ethics, accountability and the rule of law must continue to stand up for and defend the OCE to prevent it from future attempts to gut this critical watchdog. At a bare minimum, the 119th Congress must maintain the OCE as it currently exists. Any attempts to weaken this independent watchdog will be met with significant pushback from Common Cause’s 1.5 million members and many other concerned Americans who care about ethics, accountability and the rule of law.
Virginia Kase Solomón is the president and CEO of Common Cause.
