House Votes 357-65 to Block Public Release of Misconduct Reports
The House on Wednesday decisively rejected an effort by Rep. Nancy Mace to force public disclosure of internal investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and improper relationships between members of Congress and their staff.
In a 357-65-1 vote, lawmakers moved to refer Mace’s resolution to the House Ethics Committee — a procedural step that effectively ends the push for now. Thirty-eight Republicans and 27 Democrats broke with leadership to oppose the referral, voting instead to advance Mace’s measure.
The resolution would have required the Ethics Committee to make public, within 60 days, “all reports, including any conclusions, draft reports, recommendations, attachments, exhibits, and accompanying materials,” related to investigations into alleged sexual harassment or sexual relationships with staff. The proposal specified that personally identifiable information of victims or alleged victims would be redacted.
Mace framed the effort as a transparency measure aimed at ending what she described as a culture of secrecy surrounding misconduct investigations on Capitol Hill.
“Congress has been sweeping this under the rug for far too long. Tony Gonzales may be the latest example, but he’s not the only one,” Mace said earlier this week. “Staff deserve to come to work without being harassed by their bosses. Women deserve to be safe. And the American people deserve to know when their so-called ‘representative’ is abusing power instead of serving their constituents. No more hiding. No more excuses. It’s time to end the cover-up and drag the truth into the light.”
“Any Member who votes against this resolution is voting to protect the cover-up instead of the victims,” she added. “Nobody in Congress gets to play by a different set of rules. We are going to shine a light on every single case this committee has been sitting on.”
The Ethics Committee announced Wednesday morning that it had formally opened an investigation into the allegations against Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), one day after his Texas primary election determined he will advance to a runoff in May. House rules prohibit the committee from taking certain actions against members within 60 days of an election.
Shortly before the vote on Mace’s resolution, the Ethics Committee publicly opposed the measure, warning it could undermine its investigative work.
The panel said the proposal “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations.” It added that House Resolution 1072 “could have a negative impact on the Committee’s ability to investigate and eliminate sexual misconduct in the House” and urged lawmakers to refer the matter back to the committee.
House rules prohibit members from engaging in a sexual relationship with a staffer in their personal office or on a committee they serve on, and bar sexual harassment of staff. The prohibition on sexual relationships with staff was added in 2018 amid the national “Me Too” movement.
While certain substantiated cases are publicly disclosed, the Ethics Committee is not required to release every complaint or investigative document it reviews.
Mace argued that her resolution would not endanger victims, noting that it mandated redactions of personally identifiable information.
“It’s not just the investigations that have concluded. It’s ones that are ongoing right now, and quite frankly, I don’t give a damn. So this has been a hidden secret for a long time,” she said.
Beyond the floor vote, Mace has sought additional transparency measures. During a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday, she successfully advanced by voice vote a motion to subpoena the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights for records of certain settlements paid under the Congressional Accountability Act prior to December 2018. The subpoena would apply only to settlements involving members of Congress, not staff, following an amendment offered by Oversight ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., which limited disclosure but required reporting on total settlement amounts involving nonmembers.
Before a 2018 law change, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights was not required to publicly disclose the names of settling offices in misconduct cases. Since then, names of offices involved in settlements must be published online.
Wednesday’s vote underscores broad bipartisan reluctance to force wholesale public release of investigative materials, even as calls for greater transparency continue to reverberate across Capitol Hill.
Vote To Remove Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar From Congress Being Considered By Republican Congressman
Minnesota - June 7, 2026
In a closely divided 5-3 vote that fell one short of the required threshold, Minnesota House Republicans failed to secure a subpoena compelling U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar to testify and produce documents tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal.
The outcome on May 5 marked the dramatic conclusion of months of mounting scrutiny over the congresswoman’s legislative actions and community outreach during the pandemic-era program at the center of one of the largest federal fraud investigations in recent Minnesota history. The House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, operating under a bipartisan agreement that demands six votes to authorize a subpoena, saw every Republican member support the measure while all three Democrats opposed it.
Committee Chair Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove) argued that the subpoena had become the only remaining tool after Omar repeatedly declined invitations to appear and failed to respond to formal document requests.
“We have reached out to Representative Ilhan Omar on multiple occasions, inviting her to testify and inviting and requesting documents,” Robbins said ahead of the vote. “The only tool left for us as a committee if we want to get these documents is to issue a subpoena.”
Republicans on the panel have focused on Omar’s sponsorship of the federal MEALS Act, enacted in March 2020. They contend the legislation loosened critical oversight requirements in federal child nutrition programs and helped create the conditions that enabled large-scale fraud.
“Representative Omar had some role, whether inadvertent or not,” Robbins said. “She passed the MEALS Act in March of 2020, and that took the guardrails off the federal school nutrition program which created the conditions for Feeding Our Future.”
The Feeding Our Future scandal stands as one of Minnesota’s most significant public corruption cases in recent decades. Federal prosecutors allege that organizers and associates diverted hundreds of millions of dollars intended to feed low-income children through fabricated meal claims, shell nonprofit organizations, and fraudulent reimbursement requests. Dozens of individuals have been charged, including nonprofit founder Aimee Bock and multiple business operators connected to Minnesota’s Somali community.
Committee Republicans specifically sought communications between Omar’s office and several individuals named in the federal investigation, along with records related to her public promotion of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, a business later linked to the scandal. Robbins also referenced a Somali-language television appearance in which Omar highlighted the restaurant as a meal distribution site during the pandemic.
“We thought it’d be very helpful to understand from Rep. Omar’s perspective how she thought the MEALS Act impacted the community, why she brought it, what communication she had with the fraudsters,” Robbins said during the hearing.
Democrats on the committee strongly opposed the effort, accusing Republicans of politicizing the investigation and targeting Omar for partisan advantage. Dave Pinto, the committee’s lead Democrat, questioned both the timing and practical purpose of pursuing a subpoena with only days remaining in the legislative session.
“Even if Omar were to testify or information is received, I do not see the committee doing anything with that information,” Pinto argued.
Pinto further referenced broader concerns about investigations involving political opponents under the current federal administration.
“We know the president and federal administration have got no hesitation going after political enemies and investigating them in all sorts of ways,” he said during the hearing.
The failed vote effectively prevents the Minnesota House committee from compelling Omar’s testimony or documents before the legislative session ends later this month. Nevertheless, Robbins signaled that Republicans are exploring alternative avenues to continue the pursuit.
“They’re fading,” Robbins said. “But I’ll certainly talk to our friends in Congress to see if they would be willing to issue a subpoena.”
Robbins noted that federal authorities retain “a whole menu of legal options” because Omar is a sitting member of Congress. The controversy unfolds amid broader Republican efforts at both state and national levels to highlight waste, fraud, and inadequate oversight in federal spending programs enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New California Leader Announced After Overnight Count as Kash Patel Demands Recount Over Democrat Fraud
Primary voters in Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and Citrus Heights went to the polls on Tuesday night to decide who would represent California’s 7th Assembly District.
According to early results from the California Secretary of State’s Office, Josh Hoover, the Republican incumbent, has surged to first place with about 54 percent of the vote as of 1 p.m. Wednesday. Democratic candidate Amy Slavensky got about 44 percent of the vote.
Based on reports from the Associated Press, the two candidates will face off in November. The seat went from being Democratic to Republican under Hoover in 2022.
Hoover, who lives in Folsom, was Kevin Kiley’s chief of staff when he was an assemblyman. He hosts the political podcast “Point of Order” and belongs to the bipartisan California Problem Solvers Caucus.
Slavensky came out of retirement to become the interim deputy superintendent for the San Juan Unified School District. She retired in 2021 as superintendent of the Amador County Unified School District.
California faced fresh criticism this week over Tuesday’s primary elections, with Democratic leaders warning that full ballot counting could take weeks.
In Los Angeles, incumbent Democrat Karen Bass fell short of 51 percent, forcing a November runoff. Republican Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV personality, leads Democrat and City Council member Nithya Raman.
With 62 percent of votes counted as of Wednesday night, New York Times figures as of Thursday morning show:
Karen Bass — 183,701 (35 percent)
Spencer Pratt — 157,116 (29.9 percent)
Nithya Raman — 119,809 (22.8 percent)
No Republican has won Los Angeles mayor in over three decades. Pratt’s performance signals voter frustration with the city after years of Democratic rule.
Spencer Pratt filed a complaint Tuesday on X against Karen Bass.
“Karen Bass just violated election law here,” Pratt wrote.
“She is so accustomed to breaking the law with no accountability, she even filmed herself doing it. Well, those days are over. We just filed a formal complaint for illegally gaming the election. We must protect our democracy.”
“Electioneering within 100 feet of a ballot box is AGAINST THE LAW. Soliciting votes at a ballot box is AGAINST THE LAW,” he wrote.
“These clear violations show a reckless disregard for the rule of law and our democratic process.”
“A person in a position of power such as Bass should be especially respectful of our democratic laws, but this is just emblematic of Karen’s mafia-like regime. It’s ‘rules for thee, but not for me,’” Pratt said.
Pratt posted a photo of the complaint. California law bans electioneering within 100 feet of ballot drop boxes. The complaint targets a Bass video showing her urging votes near a ballot box. A Bass spokesperson dismissed the complaint and questioned Pratt’s campaign.
