Letter to Pete Sessions, Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Louise Slaughter, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules - The Need for Ethics Training for Members of Congress

Letter

Dear Chairman Sessions and Ranking Member Slaughter:

We are writing to ask that you include a provision requiring that all House Members complete annual ethics training offered by the House Ethics Committee in the upcoming Rules package for the 114th Congress. This issue is crucial to restoring the American people's confidence and trust in Congress.

In 2007, Congress passed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (P.L. 110-81), which required that all Senators and their staff complete "ongoing ethics training." In addition, current rules of the House of Representatives require that all House staff, and officers of the House, complete annual ethics training offered by the House Ethics Committee. Despite these requirements, federal law and House Rules remain silent in regards to Members of the House. That is why we introduced H.R. 5095, the Ensuring Trust and Honorability in Congressional Standards (ETHICS) Act, on July 14, 2014. This common sense, bipartisan legislation would permanently fix this issue by requiring all House Members to complete annual ethics training.

According to the Washington Post, since the Office of Congressional Ethics was established in 2008 to review allegations of misconduct for referral to the House Ethics Committee, the number of actions taken by the committee has quadrupled. It is our belief that a change in House Rules will help increase understanding and reduce confusion of the rules, help decrease the number of future ethics violations by Members, and, most importantly, help restore the public's faith and trust in Congress. We respectfully ask that you include this common sense provision in any final House Rules package for the 114th Congress.

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