House Passes Boehner Resolution Forcing Stalled Ethics Committee Process on Rep. Jefferson to Resume

Via email from last night:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Democratic leaders on the defensive, the House today passed a resolution (H.Res. 452) offered by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) that forces the Ethics Committee to resume its stalled proceedings against Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), a process that had been shut down without explanation by the majority leadership since Democrats assumed control of the House last January. Boehner issued the following statement:

“I’m disappointed it took a federal indictment and the threat of a Republican privileged resolution to get the stalled Ethics Committee process moving again in the House. The Ethics Committee was working in a bipartisan fashion last year to examine Congressman Jefferson’s actions, but that bipartisan process has been stalled since the start of the 110th Congress by the majority’s refusal to appoint its members to the ethics pool – until today.

“Instead of giving Americans the most open and honest House in history as promised, this majority shut down the Ethics process in the House for nearly half a year, adopted procedures designed to keep earmarks secret and shielded from public scrutiny, and passed a lobbying reform bill that was largely indistinguishable from a Republican reform bill Democratic leaders voted against last year. This is not ethics reform; it is an ethics retreat, and a betrayal of the promises this majority made repeatedly to the American people.”

NOTE: Just today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) finally made the long-delayed decision to appoint Democratic members to the House Ethics Committee’s “ethics pool.” The Speaker’s decision means a House Ethics Committee inquiry into Congressman Jefferson’s conduct – an inquiry that has been shut down since Democrats took control of Congress in January – can finally resume. The Speaker’s action comes just 24 hours after Leader Boehner announced he would offer the privileged resolution on the floor – a resolution which was approved today by a large bipartisan majority.