UPDATED House GOP votes to Gut Independent Ethics Office

UPDATE

Following major outcry from the public, House Republicans reversed course changes to the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered a motion to restore the current OCE rules.


This is disgusting.

Yesterday, the House Republicans voted to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. This office was created to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals back in the 90s.

Without this office, lawmakers can do whatever... Almost.

Here's more:

The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.

Under the ethics change pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics would fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. It would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members," according to Goodlatte's office.

Lawmakers would have the final say under the change. House Republicans voted 119-74 for the Goodlatte measure despite arguments from Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., against the change. They failed to sway rank-and-file Republicans, some of whom have felt unfairly targeted by the OCE.

Mess!

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Foolishness Alert! GOP-Led House votes to sue President Obama - VIDEO

Guess who voted to Defund Obamacare?

The House GOP are on a roll with this foolishness. For some reason, they truly believe they can stop Obamacare, really, they have this fantastic idea that they alone can stop Obamacare.

And how they plan to do it? By passing this ridic bill, hoping to force the Dems to defund Obamacare or the government shuts down.

The House voted 230 to 189 to pass this mess and this makes the 400000 time they have tried this? FAIL across the board. Pure fail.

House GOP filed a brief Urging the Supreme Court to uphold DOMA

The House GOP has started the DOMA fight.

They have filed a brief asking SCOTUS to defend DOMA.
Here's the scoop from Buzzfeed:

The House leaders argue that in addition to the federal reasons, the Congress could act for the same reasons many states have acted to ban same-sex couples from marrying. They wrote:

There is a unique relationship between marriage and procreation that stems from marriage's origins as a means to address the tendency of opposite-sex relationships to produce unintended and unplanned offspring. There is nothing irrational about declining to extend marriage to same-sex relationships that, whatever their other similarities to opposite-sex relationships, simply do not share that same tendency. Congress likewise could rationally decide to foster relationships in which children are raised by both of their biological parents.

Finally, the House Republican leaders argue that laws classifying people based on sexual orientation should not be scrutinized more closely by courts, as is done with other types of laws under the Constitution's equal protection guarantees, because "the histories of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, and legitimacy are different."

Whatever. The money they are wasting on this is truly ridic. Too bad it will amount to nothing.

If you want to check out the brief, I have it after the jump

House GOP to Spend $3 Million on Legal Defense of DOMA

House GOP are continuing to waste our money on DOMA. They just signed on to waste $3 million on ways to defend the anti-gay act.

HuffPo reports:

House Republican leaders took over the legal defense of DOMA in the spring of 2011, when Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Obama administration would no longer defend it on the grounds that they found it unconstitutional. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders hired attorneys at the law firm Bancroft LLC to represent the House in court cases involving the federal ban on gay marriage -- all with taxpayer dollars.

On Jan. 4, Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), who chairs the House Administration Committee, signed a revised contract with Bancroft LLC that increases the spending cap to $3 million to allow Bancroft attorneys to keep defending DOMA in various court cases. The revised contract also bears the signatures of Bancroft partner Paul Clement and Kerry Kircher, general counsel for the House of Representatives.

They need to STOP! This is a losing battle.

House GOP is still trying to Defend DOMA

So let's see what the House GOP has done so far... Stop Sandy Relief funding, allowed the Violence against Women act to die and... Reauthorize the funding for defending DOMA.

Yes, these jokers are still trying to defend DOMA. HuffPo broke the story last night and now has a update on the issue:

A spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday slammed Republicans for taking "the extraordinary measure" of using the opening day rules package of the new Congress to authorize themselves to keep defending DOMA. 

"Today, House Republicans will send a clear message to LGBT families: their fiscal responsibility mantra does not extend to their efforts to stand firmly on the wrong side of the future," said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. 

Hammill also noted that the rules package "for the first time" explicitly states that BLAG speaks for the full House on DOMA matters -- something he said is definitely not the case. 

"As House Democrats have time and time again made clear, the BLAG does not speak for all Members of the House of Representatives and we will continue to oppose this wasteful use of taxpayer funds to defend DOMA," he said.

This group of House GOP is a disgrace.

President Obama's Full Interview on Meet The Press

President Obama went on Meet The Press to discuss the mess in Congress and the Fiscal Cliff.

House GOP takes DOMA case to the Supreme Court

The crazed House GOP has really gone overboard. These bastards has asked the Supreme Court to review the DOMA case.

Chris Geidner reports:

In a filing obtained by Metro Weekly, BLAG asks the Supreme Court, which must agree to consider the case, to take the appeal for three reasons: (1) the constitutionality of DOMA Section 3 is "an issue of great national importance" and raises separation-of-powers questions; (2) the First Circuit decision conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1972 decision in Baker v. Nelson and other appellate decisions; and (3) the First Circuit "invented a new standard of equal protection review." 

In the course of the filing, called a petition for a writ of certiorari, BLAG states that "[t]he executive branch has ... abdicated its traditional role of defending the constitutionality of duly-enacted statutes."

BLAG, which voted 3-2 to defend DOMA in court challenges, is made up of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Pelosi and Hoyer have objected to the filings.

When will the GOP just stop? If the Supreme Court take this case, this will be on the docket with the Affirmative Action case. What a season that will be.

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