Frank Pallone: “according to the morning papers, the Republican majority may now be ready to drop its new ethics rules and restore…”

“according to the morning papers, the Republican majority may now be ready to drop its new ethics rules and restore stronger rules that were written by Democrats and Republicans. It is about time. We need to restore the old rules immediately so the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct can begin investigating possible unethical behavior, questionable actions that have been in the national papers over the last couple of months. As the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority leader, said back in November 1995: ``The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special interest groups, or are they working hard to represent their constituents. The American people have a right to know.'' That was the majority leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), 10 years ago. The majority leader was right. The American people deserve answers; and, unfortunately, they will not get those answers under the weakened ethics rules. Hopefully, the Republican majority has come to its senses and will restore the old rules later this week. If the majority leader really believes his comments from 10 years ago, I would think he would join us in our fight. ____________________”