With the sting of the November election losses not far behind them, House Republicans say they are demonstrating a new level of intolerance toward potential legal wrongdoing.

The Republicans moved quickly to evict John T. Doolittle of California, a former member of the House leadership, from the Appropriations Committee on Thursday, less than 24 hours after revelations that the FBI had recently raided his home.

Meanwhile, Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., said in a written statement that he was stepping down from the Intelligence Committee after agents raided a family business in Arizona.

“Today, the FBI came to my family’s business to obtain documents related to their investigation,” Renzi said. He added, “I view these actions as the first step in bringing out the truth. Until this matter is resolved, I will take a leave of absence from the House Intelligence Committee. I intend to fully cooperate with this investigation.”

Doolittle, who was GOP conference secretary in the 109th Congress, voluntarily surrendered his seat on the coveted Appropriations panel. But GOP aides said Republican leaders made clear that if Doolittle failed to quit on his own, they would move to throw him off.

“It’s about time,” said Brendan Daly, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who made “Republican culture of corruption” a 2006 campaign refrain.

Last year, the GOP leadership gave former Rep. Bob Ney (1995-2006) considerable deference in deciding when to give up his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee and later his seat in Congress. The Ohio Republican is serving a 30-month sentence after pleading guilty to making false statements to federal officials and conspiracy to commit fraud.

The GOP, having learned its lessons from the cases of Ney and Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California (1991-2005), another Republican imprisoned on a corruption conviction, is determined to make itself less vulnerable to allegations that it tolerates wrongdoers in its midst.

Members and leadership aides would not identify specifically where the GOP will draw the line as its new tolerance standard.

But in a letter to all House Republicans before the start of the 110th Congress, Minority Leader John A. Boehner spelled out the basics.

“Clear likelihood of serious transgressions will lead to suspension from important committee positions; guilt will lead to immediate and severe consequences,” the Ohio Republican wrote.

In the Doolittle case, leaders acted when an investigation escalated from the issuing of subpoenas to the execution of a search warrant.

“I think an FBI raid on one’s home or office raises the sensitivity to another level,” said Republican Conference Committee Chairman Adam H. Putnam, R-Fla.

“There is definitely a different atmosphere in the GOP from the 109th Congress,” a top Republican aide said. “It’s much more zero-tolerance.”

The Republican rank and file, according to one member, “are hypersensitive about it.”

“The way for us to get back into the majority is for us to take care of wayward members,” said Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill. “When we have a lawbreaker, there is going to be no tolerance for it.”

Doolittle said that making the decision to leave the Appropriations Committee was difficult even though the departure is considered to be temporary “until this whole matter is resolved.”

“I worked hard to get on that committee,” he said.

“With all the things going down . . . over the last couple of years, I just felt just for the sake of the House it would be better to remove any possible cloud,” Doolittle said.

Leaders also are keeping a watchful eye on what appears to be a case involving Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.

According to published reports, the federal investigators who prosecuted Cunningham have continued their probe of the relationships between lawmakers and defense contractors.

A key Lewis staffer was subpoenaed last year to testify before a federal grand jury. But aside from the subpoena and evidence that Lewis is paying legal fees, no one really knows whether he is in serious legal jeopardy.

“It’s an active item of discussion,” one Republican leadership aide said.

Republican leaders were nervous about awarding the ranking slot to Lewis even though he had been the full committee chairman.

Before the Republican steering committee met in early December to determine who would get the Appropriations job in the 110th Congress, Boehner met privately with Lewis for three hours, grilling him about the federal investigation.

The FBI raided Doolittle’s Virginia home on April 13.

Doolittle said in a statement that the raid involved a search for records of Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, a firm run by his wife, Julie Doolittle.

That company raised money to promote events for ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and wire-fraud charges and who is cooperating with federal investigators in the ongoing bribery investigation.

The Republicans’ reaction to Doolittle contrasts not only with their handling of Ney’s legal jeopardy but also with their decisions in 108th and 109th Congresses to change a conference rule so that then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas (1985-2006) could keep his top post even if criminally indicted.

The rule was eventually reversed, forcing DeLay to step down from the leadership after he was indicted in Texas for violating state election laws.

But DeLay promptly took a seat on the Appropriations Committee and continued to attend leadership meetings.

Putnam, who discussed the matter Thursday at a closed-door meeting with Republican members of the Florida delegation, said GOP leaders know that the rank and file are weary of scandal.

“We are acutely sensitive to the charge that we would tolerate corruption in our ranks, and we will do everything in our power to dispel that myth,” Putnam said.

Added a leadership aide, “It’s not lost on us that if we try to walk backward on this standard for a ranking member, we would really be exposing ourselves to ridicule.”

Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.