The GOP changed federal law, limited the power of the House Ethics committee. The Office of Governmental Ethics has been assigned to regulate the relationship between members of Congress, and their potential conflicts with lobbyists. We recently saw an example of these issues when Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) resigned from Congress due to the fact that the Office of Governmental Ethics found that Whitfield gave his wife excessive access to government offices and documents when she was working a lobbyist for an anti-horse slaughter bill.

You have to also look at how these regulations may benefit Democratic lawmakers that may have spouses tied to the banking industry. You want to be able to guard the ties that different committee leaders have to the technology sector, particularly as we begin to see different issues being set up around broadband and internet access. You want to be able to see progress and action taken to strengthen government ethical standards, unless, you are not worried about corruption.