US House = A Soap Opera

Kent and I were talking about this last night at dinner. It’s amazing that the House even continues to operate (some would say that it isn’t), given all the arguing and bickering taking place in that chamber. I told Kent, “Well, one way or the other, eventually, this will be resolved. If the American people get their fill of this crap, the culprits will be voted out of office.”

I know... I put a lot of faith in the American people, and I shouldn’t. The American people go back and forth on so many issues. First, we were all for private accounts over social security. Now, most feel that’s not the way to go.

Then there was the death of Terri Schiavo. The President and our government were very willing to pass legislation to ensure that the family did not have final say in private business. The President even flew back to Washington on Air Force One from Crawford, Texas late at night to be available at The White House when the bill came before him for his signature. They did all of this thinking they had the backing of the American People. Then a funny thing happened. A poll came out that stated that 84% of the American people did not support the government intruding into the private business of the family and individuals. Suddenly, Terri Schiavo was not mentioned by the government at all, as they started receiving more and more negative attention on the news and talk shows.

As a friend of ours pointed out, the President and Congress should thank their lucky stars for timing. It was the death of the Pope that shifted the spot light off of Terri Schiavo and onto something bigger - the death of the Pope. Suddenly, that was all that was talked about.

So, I’m left wondering... Did they ever really care about Terri Schiavo, or was it pure politics? Pretty sad state of affairs really.

Now, the House has overturned rule changes they made to the House ethics process. This, on Wednesday, to try to “restore a way to enforce proper conduct in the House,” however that is defined these days.

“I am willing to step back,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the moving force behind ethics revisions forced through by the majority in January.

After a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, Hastert indicated that the reversal was primarily motivated by a need to resolve the torrent of questions surrounding the conduct of Rep. Tom DeLay, the majority leader.

The reversal was a startling turn as Republicans confronted the fallout from a stalled ethics process that Democrats said was rigged to protect DeLay, who was admonished three times by the ethics committee last year. [...]

One of the most immediate effects of the House’s reverting to the old rules will be the opening of an investigation into persistent questions about DeLay’s overseas travel and relationships with prominent lobbyists. (source)

So on Wednesday night, the House voted 406-20 to approve a resolution that restored the rules known as the Committee on Official Standards of Conduct, that was in place at the start of the year.

Yet more back-peddling of the House. It’s starting to be a pattern.

Repealed ethics rules

The “automatic dismissal rule” required the committee to dismiss a complaint against a member after 45 days if the committee was deadlocked over the matter. Under the old rule, the committee would have to continue considering the complaint.

“Right to counsel” gave members the right to a lawyer of their choice if called before the committee. Democrats complained that would allow one lawyer to represent multiple witnesses and learn all the evidence.

The “due process rule” guaranteed a member the right to respond if the committee were about to issue a public letter of reprimand or admonishment. Democrats said that could force a hearing too quickly, but they agreed members should have some kind of notice.

Source: Washington Post