Over the last week, the U.S. House of Representatives has been rocked by resignations.

Last week, it was former Reps. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., both accused of sexual misconduct and improper relations with staff. 

Then on Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., resigned from Congress just before the House Ethics panel was set to issue a recommendation that could have included expulsion following its investigation into her official conduct. Cherfilus-McCormick is facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing COVID relief funds.

Their resignations have raised questions about whether unethical behavior by members is tolerated too often – and if Congress has a culture problem.

“Absolutely,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. “I think members here have to hold themselves to the highest standard.”

The resignations of Swalwell and Gonzalez, in particular, have led to scrutiny of the power dynamics between young staffers and their powerful bosses and the lack of protection for staffers when it comes to filing a complaint of misconduct.

“If you're 19 years old and you're complaining against a member of Congress, there's a huge power imbalance, and we have to have a structure where they can report safely and not be afraid to do so,” said Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas. “That doesn’t really exist.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Congress needs to reform the ethics filing process to create such protections.

“The vast majority of victims of sexual abuse don't want to be public, they don't want their lives to be defined by a thing that happened to them,” she said. “The private channels to seek justice don't exist, so we need to build them. We need a separate track for filing allegations of sexual harassment and abuse that protects, the people who are who are registering these incidents and ensures that that process is thorough, swift, [and] duly investigated.”

And in a rare moment of bipartisanship, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appeared to agree with Ocasio-Cortez Tuesday.

“We are looking at every potential avenue to tighten up the rules and make sure that women have an avenue to report,” said Johnson, who has two daughters who work on Capitol Hill as committee staffers. “[This is] very serious to me – I’m a father, I’m not just the Speaker of the House.” 

According to the House Ethics Committee, 15 sexual misconduct complaints were filed against House members within the last decade. From 1976 to 2014, there were 13.

Both Democrats and Republicans agree something has to change.

“I think Congress as a whole needs to take their job more seriously, clean up their act, and start listening to the American people,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “I’ll tell you something that would help clean up their act is to pass a ban on stock trading by members of Congress.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., agreed that there are wide ranging problems beyond just the sexual misconduct allegations leveled at Swalwell and Gonzalez.

“There's an incredible amount of hubris, and we're at a low point when it comes to ethics in public office it seems,” Huffman said, adding that Congress needs to ban stock trading for Congress, members of the executive branch, as well as the president and his family.

“There's so much grifting and corruption in plain sight and we're just doing nothing about it," he added. "So I agree with the American people, when I hear all of this frustration about insider trading, about the prediction markets, about all of this bad behavior, they're right. And we've got to do a lot more. It's not just [Swalwell and Gonzalez]. It's the whole suite of problems.” 

Over the last four years, Congress has experienced other ethics violations that have resulted in resignations and expulsions.

In 2023, former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., became just the sixth member to be expelled from the body following an investigation by the House Ethics Committee that concluded he stole from his campaign and falsified campaign finance reports. He later went on to serve jail time for identity theft and fraud before President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.

In 2024, former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., resigned after being found guilty of bribery and extortion. He is currently serving 11 years in federal prison.

Now with Tuesday’s resignation of Cherfilus-McCormick, Hawley had this message for those considering running for public office.

“We got to get it out of the heads of these people that they're here to make money for themselves,” he said. “They're not here to make money for themselves, they're not here to promote themselves or to prey on their staff, for heaven's sake – they're here to do the people's business.”

Another lawmaker could face an expulsion measure in the coming days. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., filed an expulsion resolution this week to try and remove fellow Republican Rep. Cory Mills. The Florida Republican is facing a number of allegations currently being investigated by the Ethics Committee, but has maintained he will not resign.

“I think Cory Mills should take a look in the mirror and really consider what he's going to face in the ethics committee and what kind of recommendation is going to come out of there. I think that he has no business being in Congress,” said Garcia before adding: “I think more broadly speaking what's happening right now with Mr. Swalwell and Mr. Gonzalez – you cannot be abusive to staff this way. It is not acceptable for any member of Congress to have a relationship with staff, to use their power against staff, and so I hope this is a very important moment where people in this building and across other governments understand it is not acceptable.”

From reforming the ethics reporting process to banning stock trading by members, there’s a host of ideas as to how to address this toxic culture on Capitol Hill, but concrete steps have yet to materialize.