Tea Partyers Want House Ethics Office Intact

Could ethics become an issue between tea partyers and Republican leaders in Congress? The National Journal’s Alex Roarty says yes — if, as some watchdog groups fear, the incoming GOP majority uses budget-cutting as an excuse to defund the House Office of Congressional Ethics.

Supporters of a robust, non-partisan House ethics office “made it clear that they think that the tea party is on their side,” says Roarty. “You have so many new members of Congress arriving next year. What would it say about them that . . . one of their first actions in Congress is to get rid of an ethics committee, to defang a lot of the rules that were in place?”

Tea party candidates who fueled the GOP's imminent House takeover said rooting out corruption in Washington — Congress included — is vital to reducing the size, cost, and reach of the federal government.