House ethics probe of Rangel expands

The House ethics committee on Thursday said it will look into why the nation’s chief tax-law writer failed to report millions of dollars of income and business transactions on his financial disclosure forms, deepening the potential trouble for Rep. Charles B. Rangel.

Committee members said they voted unanimously to expand what had already been an extensive probe into the finances of the New York Democrat, who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Rangel’s spokesman said the announcement was “nothing new.”

“Today’s action by the committee is a technicality, as everything they referenced in today’s announcement has already been subject to ongoing review by the ethics committee and its staff,” said spokesman Robin Peguero. “It is clear that the committee is being very thorough and deliberative in their process, hence today’s announcement.”

But Republicans said the committee decision puts more pressure on Democrats to remove Mr. Rangel, and said it was unseemly for the top tax-writer to have such questions about his own finances.

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“Given the expanded investigation announced today, it is past time for Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to insist that Chairman Rangel step aside until the ethics committee completes its work,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. “The American people won’t stand for having a chairman of the House’s tax-writing committee who is under investigation for not paying his taxes. What more has to happen before Speaker Pelosi does the right thing?”

The ethics committee said it has already interviewed 34 witnesses, issued nearly 150 subpoenas and analyzed 12,000 pages of documents. But the committee, in a statement from Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, and Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama, the panel’s top Republican, said confidentiality rules restricted them from saying more.

The statement follows a failed attempt Wednesday by House Republicans to remove Mr. Rangel from his chairman’s post.

Led by Rep. John Carter of Texas, Republicans forced to the House floor a resolution calling on Mr. Rangel to give up his chairman’s gavel until the ethics probe is complete. But Democrats instead moved to refer the resolution to the ethics committee - a move that succeeded on a 246-153 vote, with 19 lawmakers voting “present.”

Still, Republicans said they saw signs of slippage in Mr. Rangel’s support since two Democrats voted with nearly all Republicans to strip Mr. Rangel of his chairmanship.

Ways and Means is one of Congress’ most powerful committees. It originates tax legislation and also takes a strong hand in health and trade bills. The chairman of the panel has long been considered one of Washington’s most influential leaders.

The ethics committee said it will now look into the financial disclosure forms Mr. Rangel filed earlier this year. The new forms showed income and assets he should have acknowledged from 2002 through 2006.

The committee had already been investigating Mr. Rangel for 16 months on an expanding number of allegations, including tax evasion and failure to report income and assets.

Among the allegations are that Mr. Rangel failed to report income from rental property in the Dominican Republic, that he was living in a rent-controlled New York apartment not listed as a primary residence and that he had at least $250,000 in an unreported checking account. Another allegation is that Mr. Rangel used official congressional letterhead to solicit donations for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

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