House Republicans' First Order Of Business EVEN BEFORE KILLING IRS: Kill House 'Ethics' Office :)

Foxes prefer unlocked henhouse guarded by newborn kittens.

Eventually, maybe even today, Republicans will select a new speaker of the House. Feckless weasel Kevin McCarthy would like to have the job, and he's made plenty of concessions to shore up support. We've covered some of them already, but one that stands out in his proposed changes to House rules is language that would gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Ethics are like kryptonite to a Republican.

Twitter 

McCarthy's proposal would require that OCE hire its staff for the upcoming Congress no later than 30 days after the resolution is adopted. Sources familiar with the perfidy have told Time that this rushed, arbitrary deadline would make it difficult for the office to conduct its investigations. Hiring federal employees is a rigorous process, unless they're members of Congress who lie all the time. The proposal would also prevent OCE from backfilling vacated positions over the next two years.

PREVIOUSLY:

 Office Of Congressional Ethics Finds None In Rep. Doug Lamborn's Congressional Office 

 House Republicans Murder Congressional Ethics Office, Because They're Already So Ethical 

 Donald Trump Saves Eight Congressional Ethics Jobs From Going To Mexico! (OR DOES HE?) 

 A Capitol Hill source also told   Time , "Republicans get to take control of the House, and on their first day in Congress, they are not trying to take a hammer to the OCE — they’re being a little smarter about it — but they’re taking a scalpel to it." We must question the suggestion that House Republicans are in any way clever or subtle.

 Time reports:

The resolution would also impose eight-year term limits for members of OCE’s eight-member board, which is composed of four Democrats and four Republicans. The move would result in three of the four Democrats being forced to vacate their seats effective immediately. While the new Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, would be able to appoint replacements, the changes could still significantly slow down the panel’s work and zap it of valuable institutional knowledge.

It doesn't seem like a new Muppet Babies OCE would be in a position to effectively investigate House ethics complaints. OCE would need to staff up just to manage its new George Santos-related caseload.

Kedric Payne with the Campaign Legal Center said this "could easily kill the only body that’s investigating ethical issues in Congress ... There’s no investigations in the Senate. And the only investigations that happen in the House of any significance are done by the OCE.”

"This is a very smart way to do it," Payne said, giving Republicans way too much credit. "Because it looks as though the office still lives, but, in fact, it doesn’t.”

 Republicans tried to murderize the OCE after Donald Trump started squatting in the Oval Office. They met in the dead of night exactly six years ago and voted to rename the OCE the Office of Congressional Complaint Review and place it under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee, which was under Republican control so it had no ethics and was barely a committee. This was obviously counter to the OCE's intended purpose as an independent entity. McCarthy and Speaker Paul Ryan had opposed the change at the time, but it was the instant backlash that stopped it rather than their powerful leadership.

McCarthy was never that impressive, but now he's getting worse. T  ime notes that many of those opposed to McCarthy's speaker bid, especially Reps. Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry, Lauren Boebert, and Andy Biggs, "stand to benefit the most from a castrated OCE." Yikes! That's a very gendered description. Update your style, folks. Anyway, the seditionists who attempted a coup just two years ago would certainly prefer a neutralized OCE. Unfortunately, there's no position so corrupt McCarthy won't elevate if it means he gets to keep his brand new office.

[ Time ]

  Follow Stephen Robinson on  Twitter if it still exists.  

Subscribe to the Wonkette YouTube Channel for nifty video content!

Look at our pretty photos on Instagram! 

Yr Wonkette is 100 percent ad-free! Please subscribe, donate, and otherwise help keep us alive and kicking!