House Democrats today refused to remove the legally-embattled Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and voted to bury investigation of new charges.

Democrats voted against a debate and vote on a Privileged Resolution, H. Res. 805 brought by House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter that called for Chairman Charlie Rangel to be removed as Chairman pending completion of the expanding investigation of tax and ethics charges against him. Democrat leaders instead voted to "refer" the resolution to the same committee that has sat on the investigation for 16 months running, and to block any debate on the floor. See how Congress voted here.

"Today the majority party in the House of Representatives approved a double-standard for taxpayers," says Carter, "one for powerful Washington politicians, and another for regular working Americans. Chairman Rangel can neglect his taxes for years and pay no penalty or interest, while the American public faces massive penalty and interest charges for the same infractions. That was the judgment delivered by House Democrats today. Let the voters take note."

Rangel in August made new confessions of failure to report nearly a million dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms. Since the Ethics Committee investigation of Rangel began in July 2008, it had already been expanded twice before the latest revelations. Rangel’s House Ways and Means Committee oversees the IRS, which is under the authority of U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who has also confessed to similar tax evasion violations and paid no penalties.

Watch all the floor action by clicking here (an edited version will be available shortly).