INDIANAPOLIS – John Zody, Chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, released the following statement after House Republicans gutted the independent ethics panel aimed at holding congressional members accountable while serving in Congress.

“On the eve of a new Congress, House Republicans last night voted in secret to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and any sort of accountability for the next two years. This comes just eight years after Democrats created this new office to hold all Members accountable to the highest standards of ethics. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the Republican majority wants to avoid any sort of ethics standards moving forward. How did Jackie Walorski, Luke Messer, and the rest of the Indiana Republican Delegation vote on this? We don’t know, and while they continue their silence, they are now opening the doors to the same practices they campaigned against just months ago. We encourage Hoosiers to call their Republican Congressional Delegation offices today and ask how they voted behind closed doors last night. Hoosiers deserve transparency.”

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