Panel Recommends Reprimand for Rangel

Sources are reporting that the House subcommittee responsible for trying Rep. Charles Rangel (D – NY) for 13 separate ethics violations has recommended that the veteran congressman be reprimanded for his numerous charges, a step below censure and way below expulsion. It is, in fact, the lightest disciplinary action a member of Congress can receive, according to the Congressional Research Service. Rep. Gene Green, who is leading the inquiry into Rangel’s behavior, said that he feels this would be an appropriate punishment for the congressman. After making the recommendation, the matter will then be heard by the House Ethics adjudicatory subcommittee, which will decide whether or not to accept the recommendation.

Reprimand differs from censure in that a censure will generally entail a verbal admonishment by the Speaker of the House directly to the member in question while a reprimand is merely adopted through a house vote with the member standing in place. The reprimand was developed in 1976 out of desire for a less severe rebuke than a censure or expulsion. Since then it has been used eight times, the most recent of which was in 1997 against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for “Allowing a Member-affiliated tax-exempt organization to be used for political purposes; providing inaccurate, and unreliable information to the ethics committee.”

The first censure, incidentally, was Rep. William Stanbery of Ohio, who earned the rebuke for “insulting the Speaker of the House.” Six congressmen have been censured for the use of “unparliamentary language.”