All of these were gathered from the Fox News website from the Urgent Queue.
Note: Normally operating in the quite, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wa), ranking member of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics) ripped into the committee saying he has been repeatedly asking since July for an investigative sub-committee to look into allegations against Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of House Ways and Means. Min. Leader Boehner tried to force the issue earlier today with a priviledged resolution that would have created an investigative sub-committee and required Rangel to step down from his chairmanship of the committee. Today Roll Call reported that acting Ethics Committee Chairman Gene Green (D-TX) will consider the latest allegations against Rangel and recommend they accept Rangel's request that they be investigated. They meet next Wednesday. - Majchrowitz
Statement from Congressman Doc Hastings Ranking Republican Member, House Ethics Committee
Washington, D.C. - The following public statement is being issued after Ranking Member Hastings consulted with Chairman Green per House Ethics Committee Rule 7(g) - a rule requiring that the Chairman and Ranking Member consult with each other before making any public statement regarding Committee business.
It has been my repeatedly stated intention since July that the Committee should form an Investigative Subcommittee to look into matters relating to Representative Rangel. This has been delayed for far too long. Action should have been taken in July or since the House reconvened two weeks ago.
In fact, given the highly public nature of these allegations, as well as Representative Rangels own recent public statement that, as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he should be held to a higher standard, I have recommended that the Investigative Subcommittee be led by Chairman Green and myself as Ranking Member, with the other two positions being filled by senior Members of the Committee.
It is also my belief that the Committee should retain a special counsel to staff the Investigative Subcommittee considering Representative Rangels own public admission that special expertise is needed to understand and uncover the facts of his financial records and public filings.
I regret having to issue this statement and do not intend to comment further.
Boehner Statement on Resolution Regarding Rep. Charlie Rangel
WASHINGTON, DC - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today criticized House Democrats after they voted once again to protect Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangels (D-NY) powerful position as chair of the Houses tax-writing panel. Boehner offered a privileged resolution to (1) establish an Investigative Subcommittee to examine Rangels ethical lapses; and (2) pending completion of the investigation, remove him as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. He issued the following statement:
No one - not even Chairman Rangel himself - denies that he has failed to pay his own taxes at the same time he has been pushing legislation to hike them on every American taxpayer. The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee has a solemn responsibility, and it is improper for Rep. Rangel to remain in a position with such vast power and influence with this ethical cloud hanging over him. When Democrats took the majority, Speaker Pelosi promised the most open and ethical Congress in history. The Democrats vote today further confirms that promise was nothing but empty rhetoric. The American people deserve far better than this.
Blunt Statement on Cong. Charlie Rangel Resolution
WASHINGTON - House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) brought forth a resolution to establish a subcommittee to investigate the numerous charges against House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), and remove him as Chairman pending completion of the investigation:
The serious and increasingly numerous charges surrounding Chairman Rangel threaten to compromise the ability of his committee to provide the oversight and direction our country desperately needs and our constituents rightfully deserve. Democrats convened this Congress with a pledge to lead the most ethical Congress in history. If there was ever a time and occasion to make good on that pledge, it would be now. Based on todays vote, the question is will that time ever come.
Urgent: Hoyer statement on Rangel and ethics
Per Pergram-Capitol Hill
Majority Leader Hoyer released the following statement today after Acting House Ethics Committee Chairman Gene Green announced the committee will meet next Wednesday to consider an investigation of Chairman Rangels personal finances: I am pleased Chairman Green has announced that he will honor Chairman Rangels request to look into the matter of his personal finances. I hope and expect that the Committee will waste no time in conducting a thorough review that considers all issues raised. The vote on the Republican resolution today showed once again that there is bipartisan support for allowing this matter to be examined by the appropriate committee before passing judgment. Republicans should be ashamed of their repeated attempts to play politics with an issue of such importance to the House as a whole and to an individual Member of Congress. Their action today is another example of an ugly brand of partisan politics that has no business in this House.
One problem with Rep Hoyer's statement, Nancy Pelosi plans to adjourn congress next Friday! So on Wednesday the committee is going to meet to consider an investigation. In other words the most ethical congress ever led by San Fran Nan is going to kick this issue down the road until after the election and hope the short attention span theater that is the American electorate forgets, or even cared in the first place. Charlie will take his place back in congress at the start of the next session just as usual, and if the Dems have their way, they will have even more seats occupied by Dems and this issue will never see the light of day again.
We must not, can not, let the Dems make any more gains in congress. It is amazing how much damage they have done in 2 years. For those of you that are considering giving them 4 more years with their guy in the White House it is not something this country can survive.
But in the world of kharmic justice there is this bright spot.
Per Pergram-Capitol Hill
Embattled House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has ordered his 1972 silver Mercedes-Benz to be towed from the Rayburn House Office Building garage.
Rangel stashed the car in the garage across the street from the Capitol. It had been covered with a tarp and bore no license plates. The car's registration expired four years ago.
The car doesn't run and the House prohibits the storage of inoperable vehicles from its garages. The House also requires that up-to-date license plates be displayed on the vehicle.
Late this afternoon, Fox learned that Rangel had the Benz towed to American Service Center in Arlington, VA to be, in the words of his Chief of Staff George Dalley, "diagnosed." Dalley says they weren't in compliance with House rules. So they asked for the car to be towed out of the garage and potentially be fixed.
This however raises several other questions of a security nature. How long had this car been there? Didn't the security detail consider a covered car in the garage to be a risk? If it was reported who or what strings were pulled to allow it to remain? How many times did anybody ever actually look under that tarp to see that nothing had been tampered with? I know a couple of thousands Army soldiers that would have had warning bells ringing all over the place if they saw a car under a tarp in a parking garage.
Oh but that's right, to the Dems this country has no enemies wishing to do us harm.
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