Democrats Sink Republican Effort to Take Rangel's Ways and Means 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.

Read more: (Susan Crabtree, “Democrats Sink Republican Effort to Take Rangel’s Ways and Means Chairmanship,” The Hill, 10/07/09)