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Rep. Rangel says he'll step down for now as Ways and Means chairman

Mar 03, 2010



 
<http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/on-politics/2010/03/03/range
l-galleryx-large.jpg> 

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., says he'll temporarily step down from House
Ways and Means Committee chairmanship while under an ethics investigation. 

By Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

 

Rep. Charles Rangel said today he will temporarily step down as chairman of
the powerful House Ways and Means Committee as an ethics panel continues an
investigation of his activities.

 

The New York Democrat made his announcement just minutes ago at a Capitol
Hill news conference and declined to take questions because doing so "would
distract me from what I have to do" on health care legislation and a jobs
bill. He said he was leaving "to avoid my colleagues having to defend me" as
campaigns heat up for the midterm elections in November.

 

House Republicans had been mounting
<http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/03/house-to-vo
te-on-rep-rangels-chairmanship/1>  a challenge to Rangel's chairmanship,
moving in recent days to force a vote to take the gavel of the tax-writing
committee away from him.

 

Last week, Rangel
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-02-25-rangel-ethics_N.htm>
was admonished by the House ethics committee for taking trips to the
Caribbean that were paid for by private companies -- a violation of House
gift rules. The panel, however, did not disclose findings in its
investigation of other alleged ethics violations by Rangel, including
failing to disclose rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican
Republic.

 

Rangel, 69, has represented a district based in New York City's Harlem for
nearly 40 years. He is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus
and the first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means
Committee.

 

USA TODAY's Fredreka Schouten and John Fritze will have more on Rangel and
the ethics investigation as the day goes on. Check back here for more
details.

 

Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET: The Ways and Means Committee released a
one-sentence letter  <http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/0032.pdf>
from Rangel to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, requesting a leave of absence
from the commitee chairmanship until the ethics panel completes its review.

 

(Posted by Catalina Camia and Fredreka 

 

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