In January, in a series of decisions made behind closed doors, Republican leaders decided to gut the House ethics rules. As Josh Marshall famously chronicled at the time, there was a small faction called the “Shays Handful” that said they opposed the changes, but they were ultimately inconsequential.
Yesterday, however, when lawmakers were forced to vote up-or-down on keeping the changes, Republicans reversed course and dropped the changes.
In a rare retreat, the Republican-led House on Wednesday overturned contentious rule changes made to the House ethics process, with Republicans saying they surrendered to the Democrats to try to restore a way to enforce proper conduct in the House. […]
Mr. Hastert’s relenting to Democrats’ demands marked a startling turn as Republicans confronted the fallout from a stalled ethics process that Democrats said was rigged to protect Mr. DeLay, who was admonished three times by the ethics committee last year. The Republican majority has also come under increasing criticism for the rule changes, which their opponents said would render the committee impotent to pursue wrongdoing by members. […]
On Wednesday night, after a pointed debate in which lawmakers traded blame for the ethics impasse, the House voted 406 to 20 to approve a hastily drafted resolution that essentially restored the rules in place at the start of the year for what is formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Under the resolution approved last night, all of the DeLay-inspired changes have been dropped. The House ethics rules are now as they were last year, which will lead Ethics Committee Dems to move forward, allowing the panel to conduct business again. It’s a terrific success for ethical principles and effective government.
Substance aside, who were the 20 who backed weaker ethics guidelines?
Here’s the list:
* Joe Barton (R-Texas)
* Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
* Michael Burgess (R-Texas)
* Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
* Steve Buyer (R-Ind.)
* John Carter (R-Texas)
* Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.)
* John Culberson (R-Texas)
* Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio)
* Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
* Steve King (R-Iowa)
* Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)
* Butch Otter (R-Idaho)
* Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
* Ted Poe (R-Texas)
* Tom Price (R-Ga.)
* Mike Simpson (R-Idaho)
* Mac Thornberry (R-Texas)
* Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas)
* Dave Weldon (R-Fla.)
A couple of minor observations. First, DeLay voted with the majority to repeal the changes passed to benefit him directly. Second, Hastert did not vote, which isn’t unusual given his status as Speaker. Third, a full one-third of the Texas Republican delegation voted to keep the weaker ethics rules.
And a special shout-out goes to Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican, who was the only lawmaker to vote “Present.” There goes Souder’s shot at that “Profiles in Courage” award.