What we’ve learned from the GOP’s ethics fiasco



Welcome to 2017, Capitol Hill. Here’s the bottom line: not a whole lot has changed.

After a wave election gave unchecked power to Republicans in Washington, the House is still chaotic, the House GOP leadership’s power is still somewhat limited and long-term political strategy and thinking still seems to be in short supply.


In a dizzying 24 hours, the House Republican Conference gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics in a private vote, and after outcry from everyone from good-government groups to President-elect Donald Trump, the GOP retreated behind the same closed doors to reverse its decision.

It’s all led to a massive message muddle on a day when Republicans wanted to celebrate their taking the White House, and keeping control of both chambers of Congress.

A new day in Washington? Not even close. Five political dynamics have become abundantly evident.

The GOP is still willing to defy its leadership…

On Monday night, when 119 House Republicans voted to gut the OCE, they showed they were plainly uninterested in what their leadership had to say about broader strategy — a dynamic that has hobbled the party for the last half-dozen years. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) were clear about the substantive and optical downsides of stripping the OCE of its power, and they opposed Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-Va.) measure. Gutting congressional oversight the first day of a new session? It was akin to a late Christmas present for down-in-the-dumps House Democrats.

But the leadership seemed caught off guard. They were either unaware of the effort, unable to stop it, unwilling to stop it or underestimated its chances of passing. Or all of the above.

But the depth of the measure’s support — and its source — showed just how difficult leadership’s job is. The ringleaders of this effort were not the rambunctious members of the House Freedom Caucus or anything close to that. These were mostly old-line, establishment Republicans. Goodlatte is a 24-year veteran of D.C.; Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) — who also spoke in favor of the measure — was a member of GOP leadership; and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) was, until recently, a House committee chairman. Many of the vocal supporters of the rule change have come under OCE’s microscope in recent years.

…but leadership is willing to strike back

Despite years of cries from the rank and file to respect the will of the majority, the House GOP leadership moved swiftly to overturn the Monday night vote, showing clearly that Ryan and McCarthy aren’t immune to strong-armed leadership. The vote was unanimous — meaning no one threw up a roadblock, preferring to move on with the day and leave a bad message behind.

Republicans aren’t immune to overreach

When Republicans took the majority in 2010, then Speaker John Boehner made pretty clear that he was aware that, when Republicans lost power in 2006, it was because they abused their authority by overreaching. Big pricey bills. Ethics and earmark scandals. Political tin ear. One of the biggest fears at the highest rungs of GOP leadership is that the party will misread its mandate and try to do too much too quickly.

Republicans need to maintain their political capital. They want to quickly complete a massive rewrite of the tax code, boost infrastructure spending and repeal Obamacare. Eye poking, top Republicans warn, will only engender sour feelings in the Capitol.

Consider what happened Monday night. It was a federal holiday. The House wasn’t in session. The party went into a closed-door meeting in the Capitol and substantively rewrote the rules of the House of Representatives without any warning, or transparency.

It’s not like there was any public outcry to reform OCE. The only constituency looking to reform the institution was members of Congress themselves.

Donald Trump isn’t interested in Hill shenanigans — and could make members of Congress pay

The president-elect, who is in New York today for meetings, publicly questioned House Republicans’ decision to neuter the OCE. With the House readying to vote on the rules package, Trump tweeted, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it ........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS.” This mirrors McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) message in the closed meeting Monday night when he expressed reservations about the move.

The message wasn’t delivered through back channels, but rather to Trump’s 18.5 million Twitter followers, creating pressure on the House to reverse its position.

It's not that Trump was expressing substantive opposition to the move — it's mostly an inside-the-Beltway issue. But, if you read between the lines, Trump is saying, "This is what you guys are deciding to do on Day One?

Shortsightedness could be an issue

House Republicans had a clean chance at a good narrative for their first day back. They could’ve been focused on internal Democratic discontent — of which there is plenty. They could’ve stayed in sync with Trump’s message that it’s a new day in Washington. Instead, they considered booting a board of outsiders tasked with investigating ethical lapses.

In fact, many Republicans and Democrats said the Justice Department would have been forced to step into the void, if the OCE changes had been made official. If Congress won’t police itself, federal prosecutors will.