In a possible sign of grassroots action to come, about a dozen women responded to Congressman Goodlatte’s recent effort to gut Congressional ethics oversight by delivering New Year’s cards on various issues to his Roanoke office.

After House Republican reversed themselves on gutting the Congressional ethics office following a storm of public protest and even a critical tweet from Donald Trump, Congressman Goodlatte– whose introduced the proposal– issued the following statement:

“The House must have a rules package under which to operate and serve our constituents, and ultimately accepting the amendment from Majority Leader McCarthy was the only way to ensure passage. While I understand the need to do so, I am wholly disappointed that these important reforms to strengthen due process rights and the mission of the OCE did not move forward. Gross misrepresentation by opponents of my amendment, and the media willing to go along with this agenda, resulted in a flurry of misconceptions and unfounded claims about the true purpose of this amendment. To be perfectly clear, the OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and my amendment would have done nothing to impede their work or lessen the high ethical standards to which all Members of Congress should be held. I look forward to passing a House Rules package this afternoon and getting down to the important business the American people elected us to perform.”

So no apology from Goodlatte for his effort to gut an independent watchdog on Congressional ethics and make it harder to expose wrongdoing by lawmakers. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong. Or perhaps he believes his position in Congress is so secure that it doesn’t matter what he does or says.

Finally it wasn’t so much Trump’s tweet that caused the Republicans to reverse course but thousands of angry constituents.

Endorsing a proposal by Congressman Goodlatte, House Republicans voted Monday to gut the House of Representatives’ independent ethics watchdog.

Politico reports:

Despite a warning from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Republicans on Monday adopted a proposal by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to put the Office of Congressional Ethics under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee.

The office currently has free rein, enabling investigators to pursue allegations and then recommend further action to the House Ethics Committee as they see fit.

Now, the office would be under the thumb of lawmakers themselves. The proposal also appears to limit the scope of the office’s work by barring them from consider anonymous tips against lawmakers. And it would stop the office from disclosing the findings of some of their investigations, as they currently do after the recommendations go to House Ethics.

President-elect Donald Trump ran on a platform of draining the swamp of an often all-too-cozy Washington D.C. Monday night’s moves go in the opposite direction, severely loosening oversight of lawmakers’ potential conflicts of interest, use of campaign money and other ethical matters.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement denouncing the Republicans’ action:

“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions.  Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.

“The Office of Congressional Ethics is essential to an effective ethics process in the House, providing a vital element of transparency and accountability to the ethics process.  The amendment Republicans approved tonight would functionally destroy this office.

“Congress must hold itself to the highest standards of conduct.  Instead, the House Republicans Conference has acted to weaken ethics and silence would-be whistleblowers.”

Update: Even our ethically-challenged President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the House GOP’s vote, although he called the ethics panel “unfair.”

Further update: Following Trump’s criticism, House Republicans have withdrawn their plan to gut the ethics panel.

Additional update:

Congressman Goodlatte has been among the Republicans voting repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which in 2016 enabled more than 30,000 residents of the Sixth District to purchase health insurance. Enrollment for 2017 promises to be even larger. While there are some problems with the ACA that could easily be fixed if Goodlatte and other Republicans would cooperate, the law has reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 21.3 million– cutting the number of uninsured in half.

But with a Republican President-elect who supports repeal and a Republican majority in both houses of Congress, the ACA and the millions of Americans insured through the law are under serious threat.

Goodlatte has expressed support for the House Republicans’ supposed alternative to the ACA. But as Huffington Post reported:

Is Goodlatte prepared to let that happen?

Congressman Bob Goodlatte has issued a statement applauding President-elect Trump’s appointment of Congressman Mick Mulvaney as director of the Office of Management and the Budget.

There is reason to believe that despite Trump’s promise to protect Medicare and Social Security, Mulvaney has other ideas.

“We have to end Medicare as we know it,” Mulvaney said in 2011.

A Tea Party budget hawk who led the opposition to many of the funding compromises during the Obama era, Mulvaney vocally championed proposals by then-Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and others to privatize Medicare or impose other major changes to the program. He relentlessly argued that cutting retirement programs like Medicare was the only way to “balance the budget,” the Tea Party call to arms. He hasn’t been shy about calling for a drastic refashioning of Medicare.

“Medicare as it exists today is finished,” Mulvaney said at a townhall in 2011. As OMB director, Mulvaney would have major sway within a Trump administration, and would play a key role in determining the administration’s position on mandatory programs like Medicare and Social Security, which Mulvaney once called a “Ponzi scheme.” The post requires confirmation by the Senate.

Does Goodlatte agree? It would be good to know.