Rangel Steps Down as Committee Chair - UPDATED

Embattled Congressman Charles Rangel (D – NY) has announced that he will be temporarily stepping down from his position as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rangel has been the target of numerous ethics investigations over the past year and a half involving an eclectic mix of charges.

Rangel allegedly violated congressional gift rules by taking a corporate sponsored trip to the Caribbean and though the House Ethics Committee said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that he knew about who was funding the trip, the panel concluded that two members of his staff did. The committee admonished Rangel for this oversight, but the representative went otherwise unpunished.

Still, this has not been the end of his troubles. Rangel is still under investigation on a more serious tax evasion matter; the committee is currently exploring whether the congressman had failed to accurately report his personal assets to Congress; last summer, the representative revealed that he had about $500,000 more in assets than was previously disclosed. He is also being investigated for failing to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic and whether he had improperly used House stationary to fundraise for the Charles Rangel Center for Public Service. Furthermore, the committee is also looking into assertions that he is renting four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem far below market value and whether this constitutes a gift.

As the allegations against the New York congressman stacked up, it became increasingly difficult for his fellow Democrats to stand behind him. Despite this, however, he had insisted that he would not give up his chairmanship, even temporarily, as recently as last night. Rangel explained his 180 by saying he was defending his Democratic colleagues from having to defend him during an election year.

Rangel answered no questions on his actions, however, saying that to do so would distract him from working on health care and jobs legislation.