The House ethics committee on Thursday admonished Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) for accepting privately-funded travel to the Caribbean, prompting House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (R-TX) to continue demanding that Rangel step down from his powerful position as Chairman of the Ways & Means committee as the investigation continues on other egregious violations by Rangel.

"As I have been saying for more than a year now, Charlie Rangel should, at the least, step down from his leadership position while under investigation," Carter said. "Although the ethics committee has made this one decision, there are still several investigations under way involving Rangel’s corrupt actions. This is just one more reason for me to continue to call and push for him to step down from his position until all of the investigations are complete."

Carter has introduced two privileged resolutions – in January 2009 and in October 2009 - demanding that Rangel step down from his position, and plans to introduce another in light of the ethics committee’s recent announcement.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she would clean up the corruption in the House, and as the ethics committee now has shown, that involves Rangel’s activities," Carter said. "I look forward to seeing the Democrats step up and live up to their promises of following the rule of law."

Beyond the trip, Rangel is still under multiple investigations for his failure to pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, the use of his congressional office to raise money for the wing of a New York college named in his honor, revised financial disclosure forms that show more than $500,000 in previously unreported wealth, and his use of a rent-controlled apartment for his political committees. He has been under investigation by the ethics committee since July 2008. Carter has asked Rangel to make public his tax statements.

Carter also has challenged and criticized the even more serious tax violations of U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Geithner failed to pay federal withholding taxes over multiple tax years on earnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), yet when discovered by IRS audit, paid no penalties.

"When the boss of the IRS, and the Chairman of the House Committee that controls the IRS, fail to pay their taxes and walk off without penalty, we have made a mockery of our tax system and the rule of law itself," Carter said.

Carter in 2009 introduced the Rangel Rule, HR 735, and the Geithner Penalty Waiver Act, HR 4172, which would extend to all U.S. taxpayers the penalty-free IRS treatment enjoyed thus far by Rangel and Geithner for flagrant tax evasion.