Bart Stupak: “on January 4, 2005, the first day of the 109th Congress, this House adopted several changes to the House ethics rules…”

“on January 4, 2005, the first day of the 109th Congress, this House adopted several changes to the House ethics rules that many in this body warned would severely weaken the ability of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to enforce the highest standards of ethical conduct in its Members, officers, and employees. In the middle of March, these warnings, sadly, came to pass when the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct failed to adopt committee rules that would have given it the ability to investigate credible allegations of misconduct even in cases where partisan considerations caused the committee to be deadlocked. Now we are left with a shell of a committee, a paper tiger that can perform only a fraction of the advisory, enforcement, and investigatory duties assigned it. The absence of a functioning ethics committee and the collapse of the ethics enforcement process are untenable, unacceptable, and irresponsible. In the eyes of the American people, this can only serve to undermine the integrity and credibility of the Members of the House and the House as institution. ____________________”