.gif)
A powerful Democratic lawmaker and strong ally of President Barack Obama drew a formal rebuke Thursday from congressional ethics watchdogs over corporate-funded travel to the Caribbean.
Representative Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, violated House limits on gifts and must repay the cost of the trips, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said in a report.
The ethics panel, in a finding dated Friday and obtained by AFP, said publishing its findings would serve as a "public admonishment" of Rangel.
The committee ordered the New York lawmaker to reimburse the firms that paid for the 2007-2008 travel or, when the source cannot be determined, pay the money to the US Treasury.
The panel said it lacked "sufficient evidence" to show that Rangel "had actual knowledge" of memoranda written by his staff indicating they knew that corporations were defraying the cost of the trips.
"However, the report finds that Representative Rangel was responsible for the knowledge and actions of his staff in the performance of their official duties," it said.
Republicans have been calling for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to dump Rangel, who has served in the House for nearly four decades. Rangel still faces other ethics probes over unrelated matters.
The committee, which exonerated five lawmakers who traveled with Rangel, did not level formal charges against him that might lead to a formal censure by his colleagues.
