Sarbanes Urges Action on White House Ethics Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a House Committee on Oversight and Reform markup today, Democracy Reform Task Force Chair and author of H.R. 1 Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) called on Congress to strengthen ethics and transparency rules for the Executive Branch and urged his colleagues to pass the White House Ethics Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 391), a standalone component of H.R. 1, the For the People Act.

"… Many of the ethics reforms that are contained in H.R. 1 – and this was one of them – what they were recognizing is a situation where things that have become norms were being ignored by this administration," said Congressman Sarbanes. "Things we never thought we would have to codify – requirements, expectations, guidelines, rules that prior administrations had abided by – those were being ignored."

Congressman Sarbanes continued: "… A lot of what you see in the ethics reforms that are part of H.R. 1, are really designed to codify what the public expects. I mean, it's common sense. We want to know if there's any conflicts of interest so that we know whether the administration is acting in the public's interest, or on behalf of special interests."

See below for the Congressman's full remarks.

For more information about the White House Ethics Transparency Act, see here.

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