“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 enforcement levels:
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
library(kableExtra)
Warning: package 'kableExtra' was built under R version 4.3.3
# Create the table above using kableExtra in R Studio Quartosanctions_data <-data.frame(Sanction =c("Expulsion", "Censure", "Reprimand", "Fine", "Other", "Referral to authorities"),Description =c("Removal from office","Formal disapproval","Official rebuke","Monetary penalty","Denial of privileges, etc.","Referral to federal or state authorities for potential legal action" ),"House/Senate"=c("Both", "Both", "Both", "Both", "Both", "Both"))kable(sanctions_data, format ="html", caption ="Types of Sanctions") %>%kable_styling(bootstrap_options =c("striped", "hover"))
Types of Sanctions
Sanction
Description
House.Senate
Expulsion
Removal from office
Both
Censure
Formal disapproval
Both
Reprimand
Official rebuke
Both
Fine
Monetary penalty
Both
Other
Denial of privileges, etc.
Both
Referral to authorities
Referral to federal or state authorities for potential legal action
Both
Comparison to private trustees
# Create the table using kableExtra in R Studio Quartolibrary(kableExtra)fiduciary_data <-data.frame(Duty =c("Duty of Loyalty", "Duty of Care", "Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing", "Duty of Confidentiality", "Full Disclosure","Record Keeping","Informing Clients"),"House of Representatives"=c("No business with the federal government inconsistent with duties ", "Protect public trust in office", "No applicable rule", "Confidentiality of investigation information", "No business with the federal government inconsistent with duties","No rule","No rule" ),Senate =c("Place loyalty above private gain", "Latitude in ethics rules", "No applicable rule", "Confidentiality of reported information", "Financial Disclosure Reports required","No rule","No rule" ))kable(fiduciary_data, format ="html", caption ="Fiduciary Responsibilities and Ethical Standards") %>%kable_styling(bootstrap_options =c("striped", "hover"))
Fiduciary Responsibilities and Ethical Standards
Duty
House.of.Representatives
Senate
Duty of Loyalty
No business with the federal government inconsistent with duties
Place loyalty above private gain
Duty of Care
Protect public trust in office
Latitude in ethics rules
Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
No applicable rule
No applicable rule
Duty of Confidentiality
Confidentiality of investigation information
Confidentiality of reported information
Full Disclosure
No business with the federal government inconsistent with duties
Financial Disclosure Reports required
Record Keeping
No rule
No rule
Informing Clients
No rule
No rule
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
- This includes the Ethics Committee which typically holds only closed 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.”2
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
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