60 Dems send letter asking Trump to comply with ethics request

Sixty Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday signed a letter calling on White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney to comply with rules that require the administration to disclose ethics waivers.

The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), asks that members of the Trump administration submit the waivers required by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

“We urge you to immediately comply with OGE’S original request to deliver all copies of waivers issued to appointees by the original June 1 deadline,” the letter reads in part.

It comes amid an ongoing feud between the White House and the OGE over the administration’s refusal to disclose waivers allowing lobbyists to join the administration. 

{mosads}“I am disappointed to see the Trump Administration’s disregard for longstanding ethics rules that provide transparency and accountability to the American people. We should be focused on fighting corruption in Washington; not encouraging it,” O’Halleran said in a statement.

The letter says that the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) request for a “stay” on calls for the waivers causes accountability and transparency concerns.

“Alongside my colleague Congressman O’Halleran, we are requesting that the Trump Administration comply with the Office of Government Ethics upcoming deadline for disclosure of ethics waivers. The Trump Administration’s brazen opposition to ethic transparency hinders oversight by the OGE as well as decreases public confidence in the executive branch,” Lynch said.

The lawmakers are prepared to hold the government agencies accountable, the letter says.

OGE Director Walter Shaub on Monday disseminated a letter saying the office declined Mulvaney’s request, asking that OMB comply with the June 1 deadline for the waivers.

“Public confidence in the integrity of government decision-making demands no less,” Shaub wrote in a letter to Mulvaney.