House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday that there is no need for embattled Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel to step aside, as Republican leaders have demanded, while he is investigated for possible ethics violations.

Asked if the New York Democrat should cede his chairmanship while the House ethics committee investigates him, Hoyer, D-Md., said, “No. He has done exactly what a member should do — ask for an investigation. I hope the committee will do so promptly.”

Asked if Rangel’s ethics problems could become a campaign issue, Hoyer said, “Anytime questions are raised about a member, it’s a political question.”

On Monday, Rangel met privately with Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif. She said she did not ask Rangel to step aside and that Rangel, who had requested the meeting, did not offer to.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner , R-Ohio, who has called for Rangel to step aside, reiterated that position Tuesday. He said he had held his own members accountable for wrongdoing, and added, “It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to hold her members accountable.”

Rangel has been the subject of news reports about discrepancies on his financial disclosure forms, accounting irregularities that resulted in back taxes owed on undeclared income from a vacation property in the Dominican Republic and his use of rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem in New York City.

Rangel has asked the House ethics committee to probe his financial dealings and has indicated that he intends to pay whatever taxes he owes.

The allegations have been awkward for House Democrats, especially new members who ran in 2006 on promises to “drain the swamp” of ethical wrongdoing on Capitol Hill.