Congress had a chance this week to pull back the curtain on sexual misconduct investigations involving its own members.
Instead, it slammed the door shut.
On Wednesday, the House voted 357–65 to send Rep. Nancy Mace’s resolution demanding transparency on sexual misconduct investigations straight to the Ethics Committee, the place where inconvenient transparency proposals go to die. In Washington, sending something to committee is often just a polite way of burying it.
Mace warned beforehand that this was exactly what leadership in both parties planned to do.
Speaking to reporters inside the Capitol complex shortly before the vote, the South Carolina Republican said the outcome was already clear.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: Rep. Nancy Mace claims Democrats and Republicans are pushing their members against her bill to publish the files on sexual misconduct by members of Congress so it will be sent to committee Mace says will never that will never see the bill.
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 5, 2026
The motion to send the… pic.twitter.com/Q11UcFU5fU
“Democrats and Republicans are, I think, whipping to refer it to committee, which means they’re going to protect each other. Once again, it will fail, and we won’t get accountability or transparency. The American people are held to one standard, and Congress is held wholly to another.”
Her resolution was straightforward. It required the House Ethics Committee to preserve and publicly release records tied to investigations involving sexual harassment or sexual relationships between members of Congress and their staff. Victims’ identities would be redacted, but the investigative material itself would become public.
Right now, most of those investigations happen almost entirely behind closed doors. The Ethics Committee can investigate members, but the public rarely sees the reports, the evidence, or the conclusions. Cases disappear into the committee process, and voters are left guessing about what actually happened and how Congress handled it.
Mace argues in her interview that the secrecy protects the institution far more than it protects victims.
“You’re going to watch men in Congress, Republicans and Democrats this afternoon, hide behind the veil of ‘let the process play out,’ and it’s going to get referred to committee and will not see the light of day, and it never will see the light of day, because the process is broken.”
Leaders in both parties moved quickly to block the proposal, arguing that releasing investigation records could discourage victims or witnesses from cooperating with future inquiries.
Three hundred fifty-seven members chose to send the measure to committee rather than allow the public to see what the Ethics Committee has uncovered over the years.
Not one Member who voted against our transparency resolution gets to pretend they care about Epstein's victims. You voted to protect predators in your own government.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) March 4, 2026
Sit down.
And all of this is happening while Congress is already dealing with another disturbing misconduct scandal involving one of its own. Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23) has faced scrutiny over a romantic relationship with a staff member, something House rules explicitly prohibit between lawmakers and employees they supervise.
These are the Members of Congress who voted to bury sexual harassment records of Members of Congress and keep you in the dark: https://t.co/uFR2JcHEOi
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) March 4, 2026
The situation became even more disturbing after the staffer later died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire, a tragedy that cast an even harsher spotlight on the relationship and the power imbalance involved.
Read More: Democrats Are Bringing Epstein Survivors to SOTU. But Why Weren't They Invited to Biden's Speeches?
It's Done: Bondi Tells Congress She's Released All the Epstein Files, No More Coming
That case helped spark Mace’s push for broader transparency. Her proposal was not limited to one incident. It would have required the Ethics Committee to release records tied to every investigation involving sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by members of Congress.
Hundreds of lawmakers had a choice. They could vote for transparency, or they could vote to keep the system exactly the way it is.
Three hundred fifty-seven voted to keep it exactly that way.
Congress loves transparency.
Until it applies to Congress
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