Southern Tier Congressman Tom Reed did not join his Republican colleagues in their vote to eviscerate the independent ethics office that investigates allegations of misconduct by lawmakers.
The 119-74 vote prompted angry outcries from Democrats and government watchdog groups.
House Republicans on Tuesday dropped plans to gut the independent ethics office after widespread criticism and questions from President-elect Donald Trump about GOP priorities.
On Monday, the House Republicans voted to fold the independent Office of Congressional Ethics into and under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers.
Reed said he understood his colleagues' push for change, but he voted no because he thought the measure was an overreach.
"Obviously, there was a need for reform,” he said. “I just thought this form was not appropriate and it went too far. As this has now been weighed upon by the conference, we'll have to see how these reforms are implemented."
Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily to Monday’s vote.
“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” the California Democrat said in a statement. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”
Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, said she had not talked to him directly about the issue, but that under the previous system there had been “overzealousness” in going after lawmakers. “We don’t want people wrongly accused,” she said Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
But others said the new system would make it easier for corruption to flourish under House Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team.
“We all know the so-called House Ethics Committee is worthless for anything other than a whitewash - sweeping corruption under the rug,” said, Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters.
