Enhancing Ethics Enforcement in the U.S. Senate

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has prepared a report on how to enhance ethics enforcement in the U.S. Senate. In this paper, CLC compares the Senate’s current system of self-policing to the process utilized by the U.S. House of Representatives, where lawmakers have established the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to conduct initial investigations into potential misconduct and make referrals for disciplinary action. By breaking down each chamber’s procedures and demonstrating how the OCE has helped increase transparency and accountability in the House, CLC’s report makes a comprehensive case for why the Senate should create its own independent entity for ethics investigations.