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gop corruption
11 New GOP Picks for House Financial Oversight Panel Took Over $6.1 Million From Wall Street
"The MAGA majority in charge of overseeing the financial industry are completely awash in Wall Street money," said one analyst. "Consumers beware as financial scammers rejoice."
Jan 12, 2023
A new Accountable.US analysis published Wednesday revealed that the 11 new Republicans tapped to serve on the House Financial Services Committee collectively accepted more than $6 million from Wall Street during the 2022 election cycle, leaving them ready to do the "industry's bidding."
The HFSC "has jurisdiction over issues pertaining to the economy, the banking system, housing, insurance, and securities and exchanges," the panel's website reads. "Additionally, the committee also has jurisdiction over monetary policy, international finance, international monetary organizations, and efforts to combat terrorist financing."
Newly elected GOP lawmakers nominated to serve on the HFSC have taken nearly $6.2 million in campaign cash from the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) industries that the panel is tasked with refereeing, Accountable.US researchers found.
The watchdog group broke down how much money each new Republican nominee for the HFSC received during the 2022 election cycle from the FIRE industries they are set to oversee:
- Rep. Monica De La Cruz (Texas): $517,145 (plus $5,934 during her unsuccessful 2020 campaign);
- Rep. Byron Donalds (Florida): $704,320;
- Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (Wisc.): $332,788;
- Rep. Mike Flood (Neb.): $237,449;
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.): $1,075,969;
- Rep. Erin Houchin (Ind.): $109,876;
- Rep. Young Kim (Calif.): $2,377,995;
- Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.): $60,466;
- Rep. Dan Meuser (Pa.): $451,249;
- Rep. Zach Nunn (Iowa): $230,717;
- Rep. Andy Ogles (Tenn.): $89,134.
"History has shown when conservative politicians in the pocket of Wall Street banks and predatory lenders seize power, everyday consumers are left more vulnerable to greedy financial industry behavior," Liz Zelnick, director of the Economic Security and Corporate Power program at Accountable.US, said in a statement. "History is about to repeat itself as the MAGA majority in charge of overseeing the financial industry are completely awash in Wall Street money."
Notably, Donalds and Ogles were part of the far-right contingent that extracted anti-worker concessions from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during his drawn-out battle for the speaker's gavel.
"History has shown when conservative politicians in the pocket of Wall Street banks and predatory lenders seize power, everyday consumers are left more vulnerable to greedy financial industry behavior. History is about to repeat itself."
When announcing all 30 new and returning GOP lawmakers recommended to serve on the financial oversight panel, HFSC Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) claimed that "the talent and real-world expertise of this group is an embarrassment of riches." He added, "I look forward to working with them to deliver on House Republicans' commitment to America."
The House Republican Steering Committee's recommendations for membership on the HFSC will soon be considered by the full party caucus and then the entire House of Representatives, where the GOP's majority makes approval likely.
Over the course of his career, McHenry has raked in more than $9.2 million in political donations from the FIRE industries while advancing "priorities written by and for Wall Street, big banks, and predatory lenders at the expense of everyday American families," Accountable.US noted.
For example, McHenry cheered in October when a panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit—which former President Donald Trump pushed in an even more conservative direction by appointing numerous far-right judges, including the trio of panel members—ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure is unconstitutional.
In response to a lawsuit brought by the payday lending industry, the 5th Circuit judges—led by Cory Wilson, who received at least $10,500 in campaign cash from Wall Street when he was a Republican candidate for and member of the Mississippi House of Representatives between 2014 and 2018—argued that the CFPB's structure is unlawful because its funding comes from the Federal Reserve System rather than Congress, a feature that seeks to ensure the agency's independence.
McHenry said that he was "glad to see" the ruling and expressed his desire to bring the CFPB "under the appropriations process," where it would be vulnerable to cuts from a hostile GOP.
"Chairman McHenry, who's made no secret of his intent to ignore bad industry actors and obstruct federal efforts to protect consumers from things like junk fees, now has all the backing he needs to get payback against the pro-consumer Biden administration on behalf of his biggest donors," Zelnick said Wednesday. "Consumers beware as financial scammers rejoice."
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'Disaster for Everyone Except Corrupt Politicians': House GOP Votes to Gut Ethics Office
"It's telling that the very first action of the incoming MAGA Republican-led House was to kneecap a bipartisan office that oversees congressional ethics."
Jan 10, 2023
In one of their first acts in the majority, House Republicans on Monday approved a rules package that will dramatically hinder the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body tasked with investigating complaints about sitting lawmakers.
The change came as a number of House Republicans—including newly elected Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.)—are facing growing scrutiny for alleged ethics violations that range from potentially running afoul of campaign finance laws to defying congressional subpoenas issued as part of the January 6 investigation.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opposed the establishment of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) in 2008, and Republicans have repeatedly targeted the body in the years since its creation.
"It speaks volumes that House Republicans' first order of business after electing Kevin McCarthy as speaker is to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, making it easier for House members—including those complicit in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election—to evade responsibility for misconduct," said Sean Eldridge, the founder and president of Stand Up America.
"This kind of self-serving behavior is why many Americans have lost faith in politics," Eldridge added. "McCarthy and his fellow MAGA Republicans have sent a clear message about their priorities and who is actually in charge in the new House: corrupt politicians."
The changes enacted by the House GOP on Monday impose an eight-year term limit on the eight members of the OCE, a change that will force out three of the four Democrats currently sitting on the board.
The new rules will also require OCE to hire all of its staff for the 118th Congress within a period of 30 days, a restriction that outside ethics watchdogs say "essentially limits any hiring for the office, including investigative staffers, to an impossibly brief period that would make it extremely difficult to rigorously assess candidates for these high-stakes jobs."
"Additionally," notes the Campaign Legal Center, "the 30-day hiring period applies to the entire 118th Congress, meaning that regardless of when a vacancy at the OCE occurs under this rule, the position cannot be filled."
Any new hires would require the approval of at least four OCE board members.
"This is about protecting their ethically-challenged members like fraudster George Santos or January 6 subpoena-defying Jim Jordan from accountability."
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) warned the changes enacted by House Republicans late Monday are "a disaster for everyone except corrupt politicians."
Kyle Herrig, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a statement that "this is about protecting their ethically-challenged members like fraudster George Santos or January 6 subpoena-defying Jim Jordan from accountability—or perhaps in anticipation of a new wave of corruption allegations and ethics violations from other MAGA extremists."
"It's telling that the very first action of the incoming MAGA Republican-led House was to kneecap a bipartisan office that oversees congressional ethics," said Herrig. "There's no good reason to make it easier for members to get away with ethics violations, which only invites problematic behavior. It sends a clear message that the MAGA House is more interested in sweeping any corruption amongst their ranks under the rug and performing political stunts against the Biden administration than they are doing anything constructive."
Santos, who has admitted to lying about numerous aspects of his background and is facing campaign finance complaints, celebrated the OCE changes as "fantastic" and called them "a good thing for transparency."
The Guardiannoted Monday that "as House Republicans moved to shield themselves from potential ethics investigations, they expanded their own investigative ability through the adoption of the rules package that allows for the creation of the special subcommittee to probe the Justice Department and intelligence agencies."
"The text of the resolution creating the subcommittee—scheduled for a vote on Tuesday—on 'the weaponization of the federal government' authorizes it to investigate any part of the federal government, including 'ongoing criminal investigations,' which Republicans have indicated could extend to probes against Trump," the newspaper reported.
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