Somebody wake the ethics committee. The U.S. House is burning. It's been a long slumber for the ethics panel, which nodded off shortly after House Speaker Dennis Hastert banished its chairman for being too willing to reprimand then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay for various misdeeds.

In February, Hastert promoted a Republican party loyalist, Washington's own Doc Hastings, to head the committee. Since then, there has been some partisan bickering over rules and staff, but no real action on the issues that should matter most to the committee, namely ethical ones.

Hastings (R-Pasco) defended the ethics committee's inaction earlier this fall, telling a newspaper in his district, the Yakima Herald-Republic, that the committee didn't have enough resources. But, as the New York Times editorial board pointed out, the committee has received a 40 percent bump in its budget.

The Senate ethics committee — which was completely staffed all year — has been equally quiet. But much of the focus of the current ethical scandals is on the House, where there is no lack of work for the ethics committee. Numerous House members are under scrutiny by the Justice Department for their relationships with lobbyists. DeLay has left his leadership post after being indicted for money-laundering, and U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes.

It's been left to outside investigators and reporters to expose improprieties, casting serious doubt on whether lawmakers are the least interested in policing themselves.

Political corruption was a prevailing theme in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll last week, in which only 31 percent of those surveyed said they approved of lawmakers' work in Washington.

The Republican majority in Washington, D.C., apparently is starting to take notice of its slipping image. In response to Cunningham's resignation, Hastert suggested last week that House members might benefit from an ethics training course. But such feeble attempts won't do anything to reassure American voters who expect that someone who makes it all the way to Congress should know that taking bribes is a no-no.

What Congress needs is not a class, but some discipline. Punish a few lawmakers' for their misdeeds, and watch how fast the rest of them figure out how to play by the rules.

Either that, or give up the pretense of self-regulation.