WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly repealed controversial rules last night that had kept its ethics committee from functioning, a vote expected to pave the way for a new ethics investigation of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Lawmakers acted just hours after House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., told reporters he had decided to recommend the repeal of ethics committee rules he had pushed through the House in January.

Democrats had retaliated against the changes, which they said would make it too difficult to investigate lawmakers, by refusing to let the ethics committee organize.

Repeal of the rules was approved 406-20. Members of Washington state's congressional delegation voted unanimously for repeal.

The standoff over the ethics panel had become a political embarrassment for Republicans in the face of mounting questions about DeLay's foreign travel funded by outside groups and his ties to a lobbyist who is under federal investigation.

DeLay, who was admonished by the committee three times last year, has denied any wrongdoing and has said he would welcome an investigation by the ethics committee. Hastert said clearing the way for such a probe was one of his motives for seeking to end the impasse with Democrats.

Democrats welcomed Hastert's move.

"It's a very happy day for the Congress," said Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the ethics committee, formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. It is the only House committee that is divided equally between Democrats and Republicans, with five members from each party.

DeLay said he supported Hastert's move and reiterated that he looked forward to addressing concerns the committee may have about his conduct.

"The House needs a functioning ethics committee and it's the Republicans who have been trying to make that happen," DeLay said. "I look forward to providing the facts to the committee, once it's up and running."

All five Republicans on the ethics committee have financial ties to DeLay, either contributing to his legal defense fund or receiving campaign contributions from him, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center said yesterday that raises a possible conflict of interest for committee members who now will judge DeLay.

The panel's chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., has received $8,930 from DeLay's political-action committee and his campaign committee since 1993.

The rule change Democrats most objected to — the automatic-dismissal rule — would have required the committee to dismiss a complaint against a member after 45 days if the committee were deadlocked over the matter. Under the old rule, the committee would have to continue considering the complaint.

Democrats said the change would have allowed the committee's GOP members to avoid tough votes by merely letting the clock run out on a complaint. Republicans said the deadline would have ensured that no member's case would be left in limbo.

Another rule would have allowed an attorney representing a member under investigation to also represent witnesses against the lawmaker. Republicans said that ensured a fundamental right of all Americans to counsel of their own choosing. But Democrats said the change would have hampered the committee's ability to conduct its investigations.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hailed Hastert's decision to repeal the rule changes as "a victory for the American people."

In a statement, she said, "Americans understood what was at stake — the integrity of the House — and in one voice demanded that House return to a credible, viable, and nonpartisan ethics process."

But the tenor of comments on and off the House floor made it clear that the dispute has left its mark on a chamber already riven by harsh partisan politics.

Some members said they feared that once the committee is revived, it may find itself dealing with an ethics war, with each party filing charges against members of the other over travel and other issues.

"I think there's no question" that an ethics war may break out, said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.

Information on ethics committee members' financial ties to DeLay was provided by Knight Ridder Newspapers; material from The Washington Post is also included in this report.