Complaint Against Kevin Yoder (R, Kansas) To The House Office On Congressional Ethics

The signers of this petition formally complain to the House of Representatives Office of Congressional Ethics of the following conduct of Kevin Yoder (R, Kansas) which discredits and degrades both the honor and dignity of the House of Representatives and betrays the public trust placed in his office and the House of Representatives:
1. Rep. Yoder failed to adhere to the highest moral principles by forcing the passage of a bill using conduct that was tantamount, in both manner and method, to blackmail or extortion: Rep. Yoder attached HR 992 (which was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on October 30, 2013 but was never passed by the Senate), to the 2015 Federal Spending bill, without a formal vote, two days before the Federal Government funding ended, thus forcing all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to either approve the passage of the spending bill with the attachment of HR 992 (which repealed Section 716 of Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act) or the government would be shut down.

2. Rep. Yoder discriminated unfairly by the dispensing of special favors under circumstances which might be construed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance of his governmental duties. As noted above, Rep. Yoder attached the bill which repealed Section 716 of Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act to the 2015 Federal Spending bill without a formal House vote and two days before government funding ran out, forcing the bill to pass in lieu of government shutdown. After its failure in the 112th Congress, the bill could have been re-introduced in the 113th Congress (which it had not) or in the 114th Congress. There was no legitimate reason for Rep. Yoder to force the passage of the bill, or even to pass it, in the unethical manner in which it was done, except as a “gift” or special favor to big banks, who had lobbied so heavily for its passage.

3. Rep. Yoder was party to the evasion of a legal regulation and forced (or allowed) all members of the House and Senate to be party the evasion of a legal regulation: According to the federal Office of Comptroller of Currency, more than 90 percent of swaps are held by just four banks: Citibank, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. These major banks and others had requested not one but two delays in having to comply with the requirements of Section 716, which was enacted in 2010, gaining a compliance delay until 2017. In the first three quarters of last year, the securities and investment industry spent nearly $74 million on lobbying — on 704 registered lobbyists — according to the Center for Responsive Politics. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the bill which Rep. Yoder attached contained seventy-one lines (of a total of 80) that were written with the assistance of lobbyists from Citibank, one of the five major banks most benefitted by the bill. These major banks clearly sought to evade this lawful regulation that prohibits public (taxpayer) support for derivatives dealing, which includes access to the Federal Reserve discount window as well as FDIC deposit insurance and thereby reportedly increased their trading costs.

4. Rep. Yoder engaged in conduct that exhibited a betrayal of the public trust placed in him by the government, the American people and his constituency: Rep. Yoder forced the repeal of a legal regulation that resulted in his government, the American people and his constituency being forced to provide public (taxpayer) support for derivatives dealing, against their best interests or the will of the people expressed in the lawful regulation to the contrary. Requiring public (taxpayer) support through the evasion of a lawful regulation places the interests of major banks over the interests of the government and the American people and runs contrary to the general ethical standard embodied in the Henry Clay quote (and cited in the House Ethics Manual) “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees, and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.”