GOP retreats from ethics changes

House Republicans on Tuesday beat a hasty retreat from their effort to weaken a congressional watchdog agency, just minutes before the must-pass resolution was set to get a vote.

Both House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tried to convince GOP lawmakers Monday night not to advance a provision that would weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics by limiting its public disclosures and forcing it to operate under the jurisdiction of the official House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. Most Republicans ignored that warning, and approved the change Monday night.

But by Tuesday morning, several Democrats were criticizing the move, along with President-elect Trump, who weighed in on Twitter against the move. And at least one Republican said he wouldn't support the change on the House floor.

"Independent review is an essential ingredient to good government," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. "The amendment adopted behind closed doors last night in conference gives too much power to the very elected officials at times in need of oversight."

The opposition forced Republicans to hold an emergency meeting just 10 minutes before the noon start of the 115th session, in which some GOP aides were already predicting the change would be stripped out.