Democrats sink Republican effort to take away Rangel's chairmanship

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/62069-dems-sink-gop-effort-to-take-away-rangels-chairmanship

Democrats thwarted a Republican attempt to dethrone Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from the top post of the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday afternoon.

In a mostly party-line vote of 243-156 with 19 members voting "present," Democrats successfully passed a procedural motion referring the matter to the House ethics committee — a move that sank a GOP effort to remove Rangel from the powerful tax-writing panel.

Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (Texas) introduced a resolution that would have forced Rangel to give up the gavel until the ethics committee finishes the investigation into multiple allegations against him.

Carter, a former judge, said the lack of any action by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) or the Democratic Caucus forced the GOP to call on Rangel to relinquish the chairmanship of the House committee that oversees the IRS and the tax code.



Democrats Block G.O.P. Move on Rangel
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/democrats-block-gop-move-on-rangel/