'Really disappointed': Comer's ethics bill falls apart as key players pull support

Despite all their political differences, pro-Donald Trump House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and liberal Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) joined forces in May for a bipartisan White House ethics bill.

But the bill, according to The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch, "fell apart" when three Democratic lawmakers withdrew their support for it. Porter believes that three Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Ro Khanna of California, Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Kweisi Mfume of Maryland — turned against the bill because of the Biden White House.

Porter told The Hill, "I was excited to come to Washington to introduce my bill, and was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors. When I landed, I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House."

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Khanna, however, is arguing that the bill wasn't genuinely bipartisan but says the Biden White House didn't influence his decision to withdraw support.

The California Democrat told The Hill, "I don't think it was bipartisan enough, but I made the decision independently. No one called me."

Similarly, Mfume — a former NAACP president — told The Hill, "I wanted to see a larger bipartisan effort. I was under the belief that there would be, and when there wasn't, I just said, 'Let me step off.'"

Beitsch notes that the Comer/Porter bill would "impose a series of disclosure requirements on both presidents and vice presidents, including on any foreign income earned either by themselves or their relatives."

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Read The Hill's full report at this link.