--- title: House GOP Reverses Course on Vote to Gut Ethics Office description: House Republicans on Tuesday reversed course on changes that would have gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics, following criticism canonical: https://time.com/4620853/house-gop-office-of-congressional-ethics-reversal/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T17:52:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:31:32.191Z article:section: Politics og:title: House Republicans Reverse Course on Vote to Gut Ethics Office og:description: They had voted on Monday to weaken the independent watchdog og:url: https://time.com/4620853/house-gop-office-of-congressional-ethics-reversal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt734bf6ba1efa3428/6988b4525f570f6c62b23a9e/congress-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4564 og:image:height: 2567 og:image:alt: Bob Goodlatte, Louie Gohmert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: House Republicans Reverse Course on Vote to Gut Ethics Office twitter:description: They had voted on Monday to weaken the independent watchdog twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt734bf6ba1efa3428/6988b4525f570f6c62b23a9e/congress-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Republicans Reverse Course on Vote to Gut Ethics Office > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 3, 2017 5:52 PM UTC  Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, left, talks with Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 3, 2017. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, left, talks with Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 3, 2017. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 3, 2017 5:52 PM UTC House Republicans on Tuesday reversed course on changes that would have [gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics](http://time.com/4620405/house-republicans-office-congressional-ethics/), following criticism from Democrats and President-elect Donald Trump over their controversial vote Monday. House GOP leaders called an emergency conference on Tuesday, where lawmakers accepted a motion by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to restore existing Office of Congressional Ethics rules, [Politico reported](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/gop-congress-ethics-office-233123). House Republicans voted on Monday to [weaken the independent ethics office](http://time.com/4620405/house-republicans-office-congressional-ethics/), which was created in 2008 to investigate corruption and misconduct by lawmakers. Under the changes, the office would have been controlled by the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. The vote quickly sparked criticism from Democrats and government watchdog groups. Tuesday’s conference came after Trump called the watchdog group “unfair,” but [criticized Congress](http://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/) for making it their “number one act and priority.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620853/house-gop-office-of-congressional-ethics-reversal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620853/house-gop-office-of-congressional-ethics-reversal/"},"headline":"House Republicans Reverse Course on Vote to Gut Ethics Office","datePublished":"2017-01-03T17:52:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:31:32.191Z","description":"They had voted on Monday to weaken the independent watchdog","url":"https://time.com/4620853/house-gop-office-of-congressional-ethics-reversal/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt734bf6ba1efa3428/6988b4525f570f6c62b23a9e/congress-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt734bf6ba1efa3428/6988b4525f570f6c62b23a9e/congress-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bob Goodlatte, Louie Gohmert","caption":"Rep. 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