House GOP Tries to Remove Rangel From House Panel

Rep. John Carter, R-Tex.,. on Wednesday introduced a privileged resolution to temporarily remove House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., from his post until the Ethics Committee finishes a lengthy probe of the congressman.

But that resolution is expected to die next week when Democrats counter with a motion to table or kill it.

For two years, Rangel has been chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which writes the country's tax laws.

Last year Rangel personally referred several items to the Ethics Committee after news organizations raised questions about him using congressional letterhead to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

The Ethics Committee is also investigating whether Rangel legally rents four apartments in Harlem at below-market rates, whether he failed to pay income taxes on a vacation villa in the Dominican Republic and his free storage of an unregistered, broken-down Mercedes-Benz in a congressional garage.

Rangel had the car towed from the garage in September. Rangel also paid nearly $11,000 in back taxes on the Dominican rental property.

Last September, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, attempted to censure Rangel for bringing "discredit" to the House. The House voted to kill Boehner's effort 254-138.