Bid to Boot Rangel

Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel yesterday beat back an attempt by Republicans to force him to step down as Ways and Means Committee chairman.

The Democrat-controlled House voted 246-153, mostly along partisan lines, to banish the anti-Rangel resolution to the Ethics Committee, which has been investigating the Harlem lawmaker for more than a year.

By sending the legislation to the panel rather than simply voting to kill it on the House floor, Democrats provided themselves some political cover from accusations that they helped protect the accused tax cheat.

Read more: (Daphne Retter, “Bid to Boot Charlie,” New York Post, 10/08/09)