Update, 12:42 pm: Multiple outlets are reporting that House Republican leaders have now stripped the rules package of the measures gutting the OCE. From Politico:
Following a public outcry, and criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, House Republicans reversed course Tuesday on drastic changes to the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.
After a hastily convened conference call, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered a motion to restore the current OCE rules that was accepted by the GOP conference via unanimous consent.
Original post: In two tweets Tuesday morning, Donald Trump signaled his disapproval of the House GOP’s Monday vote to gut the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Of course, Trump’s criticism is toothless. Trump doesn’t display here an eagerness to campaign for a restoration of the ethics office—his tweets appear to be a critique of the House GOP’s evident priorities, not the substance of what they’ve done. Trump’s tweets simply allow him to say that he spoke out against the vote, which some have suggested means that the Trump era will be marked with wild conflicts of interest outside of Trump’s White House as well as in. “The House Republicans are taking a cue from the leader of the party in their flagrant disregard for ethics,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington chairman Norm Eisen told USA Today.
The full House will vote on the new rules package, including the OCE changes, on Tuesday.
