Democrats Defeat G.O.P. Effort Against Rangel

House Democrats on Wednesday blocked a Republican effort to force Representative Charles B. Rangel from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee and instead referred the demand to the ethics panel already investigating him.

As expected, the House voted 246 to 153 to essentially table the call for the ouster of Mr. Rangel, Democrat of New York. Representative John Carter, Republican of Texas, had sought Mr. Rangel’s removal in a resolution that said national attention to financial lapses by the chairman of the tax-writing committee has “held the House up to public ridicule.”

Under rules governing consideration of such resolutions in the House, there was no debate on the proposal. But Democrats and a few Republicans said the House should take no action until the ethics panel, which has been studying the case for more than a year, reached a conclusion on Mr. Rangel’s belated disclosure of significant personal assets and his initial failure to pay taxes on some income.

Read more: (Carl Hulse, “Democrats Defeat G.O.P. Effort Against Rangel,” The New York Times, 10/08/09)