George Voinovich: “first, I again compliment the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the good job she…”

“first, I again compliment the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the good job she and the committee have done in proposing legislation that will make a difference in the Senate and in the Congress. I respect everything the Senator has done. Some of the amendments making mandatory some of the things we are doing voluntarily I welcome. I thank the Senator. One thing I have tried to do is to inform Members about what the rules are so they do not get in trouble. I point out that even though the amendment is well motivated and meant to help the Ethics Committee, all six members of the Ethics Committee on a bipartisan basis oppose it. The Ethics Committee is the investigative arm of the Senate. It is a nonpartisan investigator of all matters brought before the Ethics Committee and, something some Members are not happy about, matters that are not brought before us, on the complaint of some, that we recognize, through the media, there is a problem with one of the Members, and we get involved in it. We do not have to wait for someone to file a complaint. We are the watchdog of the Senate. We want to protect the Senate's reputation. We admonish, we censor and, in some cases, eject Members of this Senate for not upholding the high standards all Members are expected to uphold after being elected to this Senate. I do not believe this is going to mend the problem in terms of public confidence.…”