WASHINGTON, April 15 (UPI) -- Democrats will continue to protest Republican-backed changes to U.S. House ethics committee rules and not let the panel convene for business.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday to support the changes -- which limit the length of an investigation and allow greater latitude in the hiring of an attorney -- would make the Democrats' caucus "an accomplice at undermining an ethical standard in the House."
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told The Washington Times this week Democrats are refusing to let the ethics committee sit to keep him from clearing his name. DeLay has been linked to a series of alleged improprieties and some associates have been indicted in a Texas fundraising investigation. DeLay has often charged the allegations are part of a Democratic smear campaign.
Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., the ranking Democrat on the ethics panel, told the Times the ethics committee changes passed by the Republicans in January are partisan.
He said for the Democrats "to participate in a fiction of this magnitude" would undermine the ethics process, the newspaper reported.
