Pappas’s CLEAN Act would permanently authorize the OCC so that this watchdog can conduct the oversight Americans deserve, no matter who controls Congress.
Permanently authorize the Office of Congressional Ethics (Office of Congressional Conduct) so it can continue operating without biennial reauthorization.
Occurrences
Pappas’s legislation would permanently codify the Office of Congressional Ethics, protect the board from partisan attacks
The CLEAN Act would prevent delays like this from occurring in the future.
Pappas leads legislation to codify the Office of Congressional Ethics, now called the Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC), the only independent internal watchdog that probes ethical breaches in Congress.
Evidence
Politico reported that Pappas and seven colleagues asked Speaker Mike Johnson to appoint OCC board members, and the House clerk then read the names from the floor so the office could resume operations.
Axios reported that the House GOP rules package renamed the Office of Congressional Ethics to the Office of Congressional Conduct.
The Washington Post noted that the House still has an independent Office of Congressional Conduct and that it continues to play a role in ethics oversight.
Assessments
Pappas appears to have helped keep the Office of Congressional Conduct functioning by pressing House leadership to appoint board members, which is a concrete contribution. But the specific promise was to permanently authorize the office so it would no longer depend on biennial reauthorization, and the evidence provided does not show that Congress enacted such a permanent authorization. The office’s continued operation and renaming do not satisfy the core promised outcome, so this is partial rather than delivered.