HILL STAFF VIEWS: Most Aides Want Subpoena Power for New Office of Congressional Conduct

(212 WORDS) — Among the multiple proposals being considered for increasing the accountability and transparency of Member conduct and operations is creation of a new Office of Congressional Conduct.

Given the extraordinary independence and power provided by Article 1 of the Constitution to Congress, and by extension to individual senators and representatives, adding another entity with some degree investigative authorities to supplement the respective chambers’ ethics panels is a touchy issue.

So it may come as a bit of a surprise to hear that when CNCT Capitol Pulse asked Hill aides if they would favor giving this new Hill operation the power to issue subpoenas more than three-fourths of the responses were positive.

Overall, 79 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, with 95 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans doing so. Thirty seven percent of the Republican aides said no, as did only five percent of the Democrats.

Digging deeper into the responses finds that younger aides in both parties strongly favor giving the new office the power to issue subpoenas. Fully 100 percent of Democrats under 30 said yes, as did 73 percent of the younger GOP aides.

There was also a noticeable variation between Senate and House GOPers, with 40 percent of the former opposing the proposal versus 65 percent of the latter favoring the proposal.

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