House Democrats Postpone Ethics Vote

House Democratic leaders, facing internal dissension and surprise GOP counter-proposal, will postpone a floor vote to create a new independent ethics office.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats have proposed a new, independent ethics office to evaluate complaints against lawmakers.

But Republicans have objected to the proposal, arguing that it will just add another layer of partisanship to an ethics process that is already broken. They unveiled a proposal today to expand the ethics panel from six to 10 members, with the four new positions being held by former members of Congress who have not been lobbyists from at least two years.

Additional, the GOP suggested that the chairmanship of the House ethics committee rotate every two years between parties, no matter who is control of the House.

Democrats said they need more time to study the issue and have now postponed Thursday's vote on their ethics proposal.