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Pelosi: Changes to ethics panel plan under consideration |
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By Mike Soraghan
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Posted: 02/28/08 12:00 PM [ET] |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday insisted that an independent ethics commission to screen outside complaints will get majority support in the House even though some of her staunchest supporters have voiced opposition to it.
“Once people learn more about it, we will pass it in the very, very near future,” Pelosi said.
But she acknowledged that there are ongoing discussions about changing the plan, particularly over whether complaints would be forwarded to the formal ethics committee based on the recommendation of only two members of the six-member panel.
One possibility, she said, is a stipulation that the two must be from different political parties. Under that scenario, only one Democrat and one Republican would be needed to forward the complaint.
“That’s part of the discussion,” Pelosi said. “I could argue it both ways.”
The ethics commission plan had been scheduled for a vote Thursday. But House leaders announced Wednesday they were pulling the bill after it became clear that support had collapsed.
House leaders cited the need to review a last-minute Republican proposal for the delay. But even Democratic members of the Rules Committee, which is directly controlled by Pelosi, indicated opposition to the plan.
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