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A Florida Democrat indicted for using federal disaster relief money to fund her campaign has resigned from Congress. The House Ethics Committee was weighing whether to recommend her expulsion. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is one of four House members in recent days who have been under pressure to resign or face expulsion over various allegations of wrongdoing. NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas has this look at why expulsions are rare and what this flurry of embattled members says about Congress now.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: The two Republicans and two Democrats denied wrongdoing. The Ethics Committee opened investigations into each of them. But in recent days, some lawmakers said Congress should not wait. Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna wanted to expel all four.
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ANNA PAULINA LUNA: We should be able to all agree on the basics that maybe if you're - I don't know - sexually harassing or assaulting or you're stealing funds from FEMA, maybe you should not be in Congress, right? Like, maybe it's time for you to go home and figure those issues out, not on taxpayer dollars.
GRINGLAS: Cherfilus-McCormick is awaiting trial on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Florida Republican Cory Mills is accused of assault and campaign finance violations among other offenses. California Democrat Eric Swalwell ultimately resigned amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment. So did Texas Republican Tony Gonzales after admitting to an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. Had Congress moved to expel all four, that would have been more than in the past 165 years.
CHARLIE DENT: Most members don't want to undo the preferences of the voters.
GRINGLAS: Former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent saw a lot of bad behavior as chair of House Ethics from 2015 to 2017. He says the committee's members took their responsibilities seriously, despite how awkward it can be to police your own colleagues.
DENT: I've had many uncomfortable elevator rides with some of my colleagues over the years, you know, who are under investigation.
GRINGLAS: Georgetown University's Matthew Glassman says the framers knew Congress needed a way to protect the integrity of the institution, so the Constitution allows members to be removed by a two-thirds vote. Expulsion was only used once until the Civil War. Though many Southern members resigned...
MATTHEW GLASSMAN: You have a fair number of them who don't - right? - who stay around in the Congress, in many cases openly supporting the Confederacy. Some of them are actually in the Confederate army, literally taking up arms against the United States military.
GRINGLAS: Since that era, only three members have been expelled. Most recently, Republican Congressman George Santos in 2023, who had been indicted for wire fraud and identity theft. Glassman says it's not that behavior has gotten worse, but that standards have changed.
GLASSMAN: A lot of things which we would think of now as abuse of office were very commonplace in the 19th century.
GRINGLAS: A key reason so few members of Congress have been removed historically is many resign first. But Dent says some lawmakers have learned from President Trump to never admit wrongdoing, so they hang on longer.
DENT: Members would resign because they felt shame. If you don't feel shame and you're not embarrassed, you're not going to care what people say about you.
GRINGLAS: Ethics cases can go slowly. Dent says members deserve due process, and as investigators turn over more rocks, probes can expand. While members always had power to act on their own to force an expulsion or censure vote, Glassman says backbenchers now feel empowered to move without leadership, whether to address real misconduct or score political points.
DENT: You get to Congress in 1990, and how could you ever reach a national audience? Nowadays, you come with a massive megaphone via social media.
GRINGLAS: That also means the public is more tuned in. Responding to criticism, the Ethics Committee published a letter this week saying it's dedicated to, quote, "ensuring that any individuals responsible for misconduct are held responsible."
DENT: There's a widespread belief that members of Congress don't have to follow the same rules or can get away with things. And, you know, when these scandals come to light, that feeds that perception. And when the House doesn't do anything about it, it feeds that perception.
GRINGLAS: Still, pushing a colleague out has high stakes when the chamber is so thinly divided. But when a member threatens the standing of the party or the institution, Dent says lawmakers may decide booting them is worth the risk. Sam Gringlas, NPR News, Washington.
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