美国国家公共电台 NPR After Backlash, Including From Trump, House GOP Drops Weakening Of Ethics Office

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Today the story on Capitol Hill was supposed to be about the new era of total Republican control in Washington, but before the new Congress began, there was fresh drama in the House, where party leaders were overruled. Lawmakers were divided. And President-elect Donald Trump¹ was tweeting in opposition² to his own party.

This all came about after House Republicans initially³ voted late last night to weaken an independent body that investigates ethics⁴ complaints against House lawmakers. House speaker Paul Ryan opposed it, but a majority of House Republicans passed it anyway. Then in less than 24 hours, Republicans were forced to reverse course and withdraw the proposal. They say they'll try again later this year.

NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis is here to explain all of this back and forth⁵. Susan, can you hear me?

SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE⁶: Hey, Audie.

CORNISH: So why did Republicans all of a sudden back away from this proposed ethics change?

DAVIS: Well, they faced a sudden and swift backlash. One, they heard it from their constituents⁷ who were calling them and saying they thought this was a bad idea. There was almost unanimous opposition from outside watchdogs, both liberal and conservative, saying they didn't want to see this happen. And then you had the president-elect weigh in and say, you know, while he may have some issues with the process, he thinks there is much better things Republicans should be spending their time on.

So while the substance of this is still something that a lot of Republicans want to have a conversation about and arguably some Democrats⁸ do, too, the optics of doing something like this on the first day of a new Congress with an incoming president who has promised to, quote, "drain the swamp" - it just did not fly.

And it became pretty clear by late morning that if they were going to try and pursue it, they would not have the votes for it on the floor, and that would have been pretty embarrassing for Republicans.

CORNISH: So what was the thinking from the lawmakers who wanted to change it? I mean you described essentially⁹ a kind of bipartisan backlash.

DAVIS: Right, you know, and I think that's part of the reason why it's kind of hard to explain this - 'cause it just at this face comes across as saying they're rolling back ethics rules. And the proposal was from Bob Goodlatte. He's a Republican from Virginia. And part of his concern is that the outside - this independent body, the Office of Congressional Ethics, has an ability to take up anonymous¹⁰ complaints against members of Congress. And part of this would have made it - banned those anonymous complaints.

And their part was, in any other normal court proceeding¹¹, you have a due process right that allows you to confront your accuser and no more information. And it also sometimes can cost members a lot of legal fees to defend themselves against complaints from unknown sources.

And so there was also an issue of whether this is redundant¹² to the House Ethics Committee, which is a bipartisan committee that also looks at some of these issues. The difference is the House Ethics Committee can only take complaints from members. The outside group could take complaints from members of the public. So by limiting that and potentially putting it under the oversight¹³ of the Ethics Committee, it was generally seen as undermining the independence of this group.

CORNISH: Now, Donald Trump in his tweet about this did use the word unfair to describe the Office of Congressional Ethics. But what is it that ultimately changed their minds?

DAVIS: Well, you know, Republicans say that is not the reason, that Trump's tweet was not the reason they did it. But I talked to many lawmakers who were in the room when they decided¹⁴ to reverse course who said their party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, look; if this is not a priority for our president-elect, it should not be a priority for us right now.

What they say they're going to do is they're going to direct the House Ethics Committee - again, bipartisan committee, evenly split between five Republicans and five Democrats - to look at this issue, to look at the OCE and to see if they have any recommendations on how to change the system and report back to the House later this year.

Historically and customarily, when there's any changes to the ethics process, it has tended to be done in a bipartisan fashion to eliminate this kind of, you know, fight and drama we saw today.

CORNISH: In the meantime, does this tell us anything about Republicans in Congress and Trump?

DAVIS: Well, I think it tells us that Trump is absolutely going to be willing to criticize his own party when he sees fit and probably on Twitter. You know, I also talked to a lot of Republicans who said maybe this will teach some of the rank and file to put a little bit more trust into party leaders like Paul Ryan who warn them not to do things when they're a bad idea. And maybe going down the line, they might listen to them a little bit more closely.

CORNISH: NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis, thanks.

DAVIS: Thanks, Audie.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

11 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

12 redundant   

adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的

参考例句：

• There are too many redundant words in this book.这本书里多余的词太多。
• Nearly all the redundant worker have been absorbed into other departments.几乎所有冗员，都已调往其他部门任职。

13 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。