GOVT2305: American Government 2
Lectures 8: Congressional Ethics

Overview

• Authority for Congressional Ethics
• Rules and Regulations
• Procedure
• Example Cases

Authority

“Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

    - United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2

Implementing Regulations

• House Rules

• Senate Rules

• Federal Statutes

    - Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA)

• Traditional norms in each chamber

Key Principles of Congressional Ethics

• Transparency in Financial Disclosures
• Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
• Proper Use of Official Resources
• Fair and Impartial Conduct

EIGA

• Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA)

• Response to the scandals of the Nixon administration

            - Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign because of income tax evasion
            - President Nixon was forced to resign because of the cover up of the burglary of opposition party (Democratic Party) headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.

EIGA

• Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA)

• Response to the scandals of the Nixon administration
  

• primarily concerned with financial conflicts of interest

EIGA

• Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA)

• Response to the scandals of the Nixon administration
  

• primarily concerned with financial conflicts of interest

• Requires officials to make yearly financial disclosures

House of Representatives Process

Two authorities:

• Office of Congressional Ethics
• House Committee on Ethics

Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE)

• independent, non-partisan office

• Receives reports and initiates investigations

• Preliminary review

    - 30 days
    - enough evidence to proceed?

• Second-phase review

    - 45 days plus possible 14 day extension
    - Can result in dismissal
    - Can result in referral to House Committee on Ethics

• OCE has no power of subpoena and can not discipline members

Functions of the House Committee on Ethics

• Interpret and administer the Code of Official Conduct
• Educate Members, officers, and staff on ethics rules
• Investigate alleged violations of ethics rules
• Sanction Members found to have committed violations
• Receive complaints against Members from other Members

Senate Ethics Process

• Senate Code of Official Conduct

    - Senate Rules 34 through 43
    - Campaign Activity  
    - Conflicts of Interest  
    - Constituent Service  
    - Financial Disclosure  
    - Franking, Mass Mailing, and Letterhead  
    - Gifts  
    - Prohibition of Unofficial Office Accounts  
    - Travel 

• Deals with matters related to Senatorial ethics

• Equal representation of Democrats and Republicans

• Chair comes from the majority party

Possible Consequences

Comparison to private trustees

• Record Keeping - no rule

• Informing clients (the people) - no rule

    - Note that there is also no ethical or other standard requiring that Congressional committees hold open public meetings

Example Cases

December 30, 2024 Summary Dismissal

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) compiled extensive records of potential violations of campaign finance laws and House ethics rules by these members, including personal use of campaign funds, using official resources for personal errands, accepting free gifts of travel, and concealing evidence of abuse.¹

December 30, 2024 Summary Dismissal

• The House Ethics Committee summarily dismissed all charges against Reps. Alexander Mooney (R-WV), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and Sanford Bishop (D-GA)

Non-cases (Don’t violate rules)

Former Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and former first term Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, stated regarding his office’s policy while in the House, “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”¹

Additional Resources

• House Committee on Ethics: https://ethics.house.gov/
• Office of Congressional Ethics: https://oce.house.gov/
• Senate Select Committee on Ethics: https://www.ethics.senate.gov/public/

Authorship and License

Do not submit to Quizlet, Chegg, Coursehero, or other similar commercial websites.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

Graphics Credit: Unless otherwise noted graphics are from Norton Publishers

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.