In the absence of a functioning committee, the Department of Justice has become the de facto ethics enforcement agency for the House. Unless a member of the House violates criminal law and is investigated by federal prosecutors, he or she faces no threat of sanction as a result official misconduct.

By allowing the Ethics Committee to remain nonfunctioning, the House has abdicated its constitutional responsibilities set forth in Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which states: "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member."

Congress needs a new system of ethics enforcement - one that is less vulnerable to the endless partisan gamesmanship that has allowed for only a handful of ethics investigations in the last decade and has completely paralyzed the Ethics Committee since the beginning of last year.

Common Cause supports the creation of an independent Office of Public Integrity that would be responsible for investigating possible misconduct of members of Congress. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate, which would create in independent commission similar to what exists in many state legislatures. Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) have also introduced legislation in the House that would improve the ethics enforcement process.

Currently, the lobbying and ethics reform bill being considered in Congress does not include any provisions that might change the current ethics system in the House. This is a stunning omission, given the current situation.

I believe that the moribund Ethics Committee and the broken ethics process in the House is as much to blame for the current scandal in Washington as any other factor. It is incumbent upon both of you to intervene in the current ethics impasse in order to restore some public confidence in the integrity of the institution.