Sources said the committee and Rangel’s attorney attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement to end the case. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions. A settlement would have required Rangel to agree that he violated ethics rules.

Rangel announced he was running for re-election in June, despite losing his chairmanship in March because of ethics allegations that he accepted corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, did not report rental income on a Dominican villa and used several rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan. Nevertheless, he is still extremely popular in his Upper Manhattan district, routinely winning elections with around 90 percent of the vote. Nationally, Republicans view him as a symbol of corruption, and this widely circulated picture of him on a beach in the Dominican Republic only reinforces that perception.

Rangel faces several primary challengers, including — in an ironic twist — State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, whose father was defeated in the Democratic primary in 1970 by Rangel because of an ethics scandal.

Rangel compared himself to Muhammad Ali to The New York Times in June, saying, “This is not the time to be hanging up the gloves.” But just as Republican congressional scandals hurt the party in 2006, Rangel’s charges could have the same effect come November.

But fear not, climate change deniers and oil company executives! House Republicans have just unleashed their secret weapon, sure to defeat the dangerous legislation. It comes in the form of a scintillating best-of video, capturing Republicans’ most powerful tirades against Waxman-Markey. And just in case the arguments themselves don’t bowl you over, the heroic soundtrack will.

Here it is, courtesy of Grist:

“Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” explained the chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, which oversees tax law.

Well today, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo (R), the nativist congressman and one-time presidential contender, offered some advice: Endorse my English-only legislation. From Tancredo’s Sept. 17 letter to Rangel:

I am sympathetic to your concerns, and would like to invite you to co-sponsor legislation I introduced (H.J.Res.19) which would make English the official language of the United States.

While passage of this bill will do little to reform our hopelessly complex tax code – or assist you in escaping your current ethical dilemma – its passage may help ensure that future generations of Americans less wealthy than yourself can live in a country where they can use an ATM, call a customer service department, or shop at their local grocery store without having to find a translator or “Press 1 for English” as they must often do in the America of today.

Don’t hold your breath for Rangel to reply.