Brooks 'did not support' gutting OCE
U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, R-5th District, applauded the removal of proposed reforms to the Office of Congressional Ethics.
The House Republican Conference met Monday night at a closed door meeting and voted 119-74 to approve a package of reforms to the OCE. Following a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday that criticized the approval, the HRC reversed the decision.
Communications director for Brooks, Kristen Johnson, said that Brooks voted against the measure on Monday.
Brooks, who is also the new chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, said in a statement that there are still some reforms that were worthy of discussion.
“As incoming Chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee I am committed to working with my colleagues on the House Ethics Committee to come to a bipartisan agreement on a path forward,” she said in the statement.
The amendment was proposed by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. According to a statement from Brooks, the proposal included changing the name of the OCE to the Office of Congressional Complaint Review; providing greater due process rights to members, staff and other witnesses; limiting allegations to the third previous congress; and giving oversight to the Office to the House Ethics Committee.
The OCE was created in 2008 as an independent body to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers. Ultimately, the amendment approved Monday night would have given control of the OCE to the lawmakers themselves.
Like Brooks, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., argued against the amendment. In a statement issued Tuesday, he insisted that the OCE would continue to be independently operated despite the changes.
“All members of Congress are required to earn the public’s trust every single day, and this House will hold members accountable to the people,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report