Ethics &
Accountability

Congressional Ethics

The Office of Congressional Ethics was established to work alongside and inform the House Committee on Ethics and the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics. It is a vital independent watchdog positioned to help curb corruption within Congress and maintain the integrity of members. Learn more about our work to protect independent accountability bodies such as the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Featured Work

Stock exchange market chart, Stock market data on LED display. Business analysis concept.

Press releases

More than 40 former members of Congress call on Senate to pass ban on congressional stock trading

In a new letter released today, more than 40 former members of Congress are calling on the Senate to pass bipartisan legislation prohibiting members and their immediate family members from…

policy

Stopping members of Congress from trading stocks

When members of Congress trade stock while in office, they abuse the public trust. Our laws need to be strengthened to correct weaknesses dealing with insider trading.

Reports

The Ethics Blind Spot

How the House and Senate ethics committees fail to foster a culture of high ethical standards in Congress...

Read the press release. In “The Ethics Blind Spot,” Issue One analyzes and contrasts the case histories of the two ethics oversight bodies in the U.S. House of Representatives—the House…

Podcast episodes

Swamp Stories Episode 9: Profiting from Public Service

“There’s no question members of Congress have access to information that the public does not have, therefore if you want transparency, if you want open hands and a clean…

Featured Press

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Roll Call: Former members join the chorus calling to end congressional stock trading

ReFormers Caucus letter on congressional stock trading cited; ReFormers Caucus Co-chairs Tim Roemer and Zach Wamp quoted...

Raw Story: ‘Aren’t we a little more grown up than that?’: Ex-lawmaker rips Congress for ‘dog ate my homework’ excuses

ReFormers Caucus member Brian Baird quoted...

Issue One praises bipartisan effort to ban members of Congress from trading stocks

Roll Call: Advocacy groups denounce GOP proposals to ‘gut’ ethics office

Issue One Legislative Director Elise Wirkus cited...

The Latest on Congressional Ethics

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Oct 05, 2016

Op-eds

It’s time for Congress to update its own ethics laws

In a recent interview with Capitol Bells, Issue One’s Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy Meredith McGehee made the case that recent accusations and cases of conflicts of interest on Capitol…

Jun 10, 2016

Press releases

Victory for ethics

Watch out: Congress cares about ethics! Well, today at least. A coalition of a dozen watchdog organizations, led by the Campaign Legal Center and including Issue One, rallied quickly to…

Jun 09, 2016

Archived

Congress spent almost as much to study monkeys as it spent on its own ethics office

Republicans and Democrats agree on very little, but you’ll hear both parties decry government waste, fraud and abuse on the campaign trail. So where did Congress first look to save…

Apr 22, 2016

Archived

Speaker Ryan, bring ethics back to Congress

Mr. Speaker, it’s been a year. In 2015, former Representative Porter Goss (R-FL) announced he was stepping down as co-chair of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) after serving for…