The Senate could soon be in the market for a new internal cop. Nobody wants the job.<\/p>\n

The top two lawmakers on the Senate Ethics Committee are poised to take over other panels next year, depending on the outcome of the midterms. Republican Sen. James Lankford<\/a> of Oklahoma, the current chair, is in line to potentially lead the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, while the current senior Democrat, Sen. Chris Coons<\/a> of Delaware, would chair the Foreign Relations Committee if his party flips the chamber.<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019d want to stay on as Ethics chair, Lankford laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one asks to be on the Ethics Committee. No one \u2014 you can ask Chris Coons the same thing \u2014 no one asks to be on the Ethics Committee,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re asked to be on it and it’s a way of serving your conference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coons was more diplomatic when asked if he wanted to serve on the panel again in any capacity, patting Lankford and himself on the back for their ability to \u201creach effective, swift, reasonable bipartisan resolutions to complex issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy the members of the committee,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Serving as chair of the Ethics Committee is an unenviable role \u2014 requiring lawmakers to lead investigations into allegations of misconduct against their coworkers and, in many cases, their friends.<\/p>\n

There are also few rewards for the assignment: Unlike other committee leadership posts, sitting atop Ethics doesn\u2019t provide a fundraising foothold or generate campaign ad-worthy headlines. It leaves little incentive for any lawmaker to take on the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to be chair of the Ethics Committee. Period,\u201d said Sen. Jim Risch<\/a> of Idaho, the second-most-senior member of the panel who is also expected to continue leading Foreign Relations Republicans. \u201cIt’s very difficult when you have matters you have to deal with concerning your friends and colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third-ranking Ethics Committee Republican, Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, noted she\u2019s on tap to become Rules Committee chair next year.<\/p>\n

As for whether she\u2019d be willing to lead Ethics, too, she replied, \u201cDeb Fischer is not going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the House Ethics Committee, which has picked up the pace in recent months in holding members accountable, the Senate Ethics Committee has gone through long stretches of public inaction<\/a>. It has issued just two public rebukes in the past decade: a letter of admonition to former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in 2018, and one to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in 2023. Aside from those instances, one would have to go all the way back to 2012 to find the next most recent public disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

When Menendez was found by the panel to have improperly received gifts from a friend \u2014 then used his position of power to advance that person\u2019s interests following a mistrial in his federal bribery case \u2014 the committee wrote him a letter<\/a> of admonition requiring him to repay the gifts.<\/p>\n

Menendez went on to be convicted in a subsequent federal corruption case on charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent, resulting in an 11-year prison sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Senate Ethics Committee slapped Graham with an admonishment in 2023 for \u201cimpermissibly conducted campaign activity in a federal building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> nor Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> \u2014 who are both focused on the Nov. 3 midterms \u2014 have spoken publicly about who they might put atop the Ethics panel if they find themselves needing a new chair.<\/p>\n

There are also some unknowns. For Lankford to take over Homeland Security, for instance, current Chair Rand Paul<\/a> of Kentucky would need to first decide whether to decamp for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/a>\u2019s retirement will leave an opening.<\/p>\n

Given the Ethics Committee\u2019s distinction as a \u201cselect\u201d panel, Senate leaders have more leeway over who they tap for a chair position, especially if they run into hurdles finding someone willing to take it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare, but not unheard of, for a senator to lead both the Ethics Committee and a \u201cstanding\u201d committee simultaneously. It\u2019s happened on three occasions since the committee was given its name in 1977, according to data compiled by the Congressional Research Service<\/a> and the Senate Historical Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That means Lankford or Coons could end up being asked to continue in their roles, even if they are also chairing another panel. If not, Senate leaders could struggle to find a replacement further down the committee rosterr, which would force them to bring in a senator not currently on the panel.<\/p>\n

Democrats already need to recruit at least one new member to the panel: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen<\/a> of New Hampshire is not returning for the next Congress, and Sen. Brian Schatz<\/a> of Hawaii is expected to succeed outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin<\/a> in the caucus\u2019s No. 2 leadership spot.<\/p>\n

As for Republicans, Risch said he\u2019ll pass.<\/p>\n

He burst into laughter and said he was confused why someone would ask if he wanted to serve as chair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate could soon be in the market for a new internal cop. Nobody wants the job. The top two lawmakers on the Senate Ethics Committee are poised to take over other panels next year, depending on the outcome of the midterms. Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the current chair, is in line to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}