Ethics? Not in this Congress, thanks to a secret vote by House Republicans

Democrats created the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2008, after three different members of the House were convicted on bribery-related charges and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff put bribery at the center of his thriving business. In 2017, House Republicans held a secret vote taking the ethics—and the independence—out of the Office of Congressional Ethics. Instead, they’re creating an Office of Congressional Complaint Review—no ethics needed. The name isn’t the only thing that’ll be different: