WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to anxiously await a House vote on disciplinary action against him for ethics violations.
As early as today, the 80-year-old Harlem Democrat will face a vote on censure, the most severe punishment short of expulsion. The vote could come up anytime.
If he becomes the first congressman censured in 27 years, he’ll be required to stand before the chamber while being publicly rebuked by the speaker.
Rangel is expected to argue that the less stinging formal reprimand would better fit his misdeeds, which he insists were innocent mistakes.
The bipartisan House ethics committee voted for censure after a trial panel found him guilty on 11 of 12 charges, including dodging taxes, concealing assets and misusing his office to raise money for the City College center that bears his name.