Several House Democrats pulled their support from a bipartisan White House ethics bill after officials from the Biden administration allegedly reached out to lawmakers regarding the legislation , according to a report.
After Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced their Presidential Ethics Reform Act last month, the pair have been working to secure support from both sides of the aisle to ensure its success in the lower chamber. However, those efforts began to unravel when at least three Democrats rescinded their support after they were contacted by the White House, a source familiar told the Washington Examiner.
“I was excited to come to Washington to introduce my bill. And was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors. When I landed, I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House,” Porter told the Hill, which reported the news.
The three Democrats who originally agreed to be co-sponsors but later dropped out are Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), according to the report. The three cited concerns that the bill was too overarching and could be unfairly used against the Biden family ahead of the 2024 election.
“It’s too partisan a tool to cudgel the president as opposed to a serious effort of bipartisan ethics reform,” Khanna said.
However, the lawmakers denied they were contacted by the White House or that it had anything to do with their decision-making. Rather, Khanna said, he backed out after reading the bill text because he didn’t think it was bipartisan enough.
“I made the decision independently,” he said. “No one called me.”
“I wanted to see a larger bipartisan effort,” Mfume said. “I was under the belief that there would be, and when there wasn’t, I just said, ‘Let me step off.’”
The Washington Examiner contacted spokespeople for the three lawmakers, as well as a spokesperson for the White House, for comment. Mfume declined to comment on the matter when reached by the Washington Examiner.
Porter and Comer unveiled their landmark federal ethics legislation last month as part of an effort to “enable robust congressional oversight” of the White House. The bill would specifically require presidents and vice presidents to disclose any foreign payments, expensive gifts, and loan transactions, as well as tax returns from the two years before taking office, time in office, and the two years after leaving office.
The bill would also require immediate family members to make disclosures of any foreign payments, gifts, or loans or use of official travel means for personal business.
It’s not yet clear when the bill could hit the floor, but Porter has maintained confidence that enough of her Democratic colleagues will eventually support it.
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“Our job in Congress is to pass legislation that improves our government. This legislation does that. It is not to punish or reward friends or enemies,” Porter said. “It is to pass legislation that improves the lives of the American people and improves our democracy, and this legislation meets that test. That’s why I’m proud to support it.”
“I think that’s the question people should be asking themselves,” she added. “Not, ‘Who’s the sponsor?’ or ‘Who wrote it?’ but instead, ‘Is this legislation that would make our democracy stronger?’ And the answer is a clear, unqualified yes.”
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