Bipartisan Expulsion Push Roils Congress Amid Ethics Scandals

A rare display of bipartisanship is exposing the limits of Congress's ability to police its own members as two lawmakers have resigned amid misconduct allegations and expulsion efforts target two more. The developments suggest growing frustration with a system that has long shielded the powerful from consequences until public pressure or criminal indictments make inaction untenable.

Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both stepped down this week after facing credible accusations of serious ethical breaches. Swalwell confronted claims from five women including allegations of rape while Gonzales admitted to an affair with a staffer who later took her own life. Neither resignation stemmed from decisive action by House leadership or the Ethics Committee. Instead they resulted from a coordinated effort by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a New Mexico Democrat. The pair assembled a cross-aisle coalition that made remaining in office more costly than leaving.

The cases highlight a pattern. The House Ethics Committee, created in 1967, has authority to investigate misconduct but often allows inquiries to linger for months or years with little public accountability. Members frequently resign before formal sanctions land leaving voters and taxpayers with incomplete justice. Only six lawmakers have ever been expelled from the House. The most recent was former Rep. George Santos in 2023. That rarity underscores how unusual the current momentum feels even as both parties have members under scrutiny.

Attention now shifts to Rep. Cory Mills, a Florida Republican, and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat. On Monday Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, introduced a resolution to expel Mills. The move follows an earlier unsuccessful attempt by Mace to censure him and strip his committee assignments. Mills faces a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of stolen valor, violence against women, profiting from federal contracts and misuse of campaign funds. Mace said in a statement that congressional leadership from both parties has protected him too long. "Any member who votes to keep him here is voting to protect a woman beater and a fraud," she declared.

Mills responded sharply on social media accusing Mace of grandstanding and ignoring due process. He noted that Mace herself faces ethics inquiries and legal matters in South Carolina. The exchange illustrates how personal and political motives can blur when Congress turns inward. Yet the underlying allegations against Mills, if substantiated, point to a troubling abuse of the public trust that voters send representatives to Washington to uphold.

Cherfilus-McCormick's situation may prove even more consequential. The House Ethics Committee holds a public hearing Tuesday to recommend sanctions after determining in March that she committed more than two dozen violations. The committee found she funneled over $5 million in federal disaster relief funds into her own campaign. Federal prosecutors indicted her last year on charges she stole FEMA money intended for constituents recovering from crises. She has pleaded not guilty and refuses to resign insisting she will not abandon her district.

Interviews with more than 30 House Democrats suggest many are prepared to support expulsion if the Ethics Committee recommends it. Reps. Angie Craig, Eric Sorensen, Shri Thanedar, Julie Johnson and others told reporters they take the findings seriously and believe Congress must demonstrate high standards to retain public confidence. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has remained cautious but scheduled a caucus meeting after the hearing. Republicans including Rep. Greg Steube have pledged to force a vote regardless of the committee's precise recommendation. A successful expulsion would require roughly 80 Democratic votes given the narrow partisan divide.

The convergence of these cases has drawn unusual agreement from ideological opposites. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the resignations a turning point while Rep. Lauren Boebert urged stripping the resigned members of federal pensions. Rep. Clay Fuller, a Georgia Republican who assumed a seat amid the turmoil, went further in a public interview arguing for targeted legislation imposing harsher penalties on officials who betray positions of trust. For the most egregious offenses such as rape committed by those in power Fuller said the death penalty should remain an option reflecting the severity society assigns to such betrayals.

These events arrive at a moment when Americans' trust in institutions hovers near historic lows. The pattern of delayed accountability, whether involving campaign finance schemes that siphon disaster aid or personal misconduct that exploits staff and constituents reveals a culture in which power insulates rather than constrains. Conservatives have long warned that expansive government naturally attracts those inclined to abuse it for personal gain. The bipartisan nature of the current scandals does not refute that insight. It reinforces the need for structural restraints and a renewed emphasis on character in public service.

Luna and Leger Fernandez appear determined to extend their scrutiny to both Mills and Cherfilus-McCormick. Whether this momentum produces lasting reform or merely another cycle of resignations followed by fresh faces remains uncertain. What is clear is that voters have grown weary of a Congress that lectures the country on ethics while treating its own rules as suggestions. The coming votes will test whether lawmakers can place institutional integrity above partisan protection. For a body that spends trillions of taxpayer dollars and passes laws binding every American the minimum expectation should be basic honesty and self-restraint. The current wave of accountability, however belated, at least acknowledges that expectation has too often gone unmet.