(José Niño, Headline USA) The House voted Wednesday to scuttle an effort by Representative Nancy Mace to make public all reports on sexual misconduct allegations against members of Congress and their aides, NBC News reports.
Mace, a conservative Republican running to be governor of South Carolina, forced a floor vote on her resolution directing the House Ethics Committee to release all reports on allegations of lawmakers and aides engaging in sexual misconduct or harassment.
In a 357 to 65 vote, the House referred the Mace resolution to committee, a move that effectively killed it.
The Ethics Committee had encouraged members to vote for referral. In a joint statement, the Republican and Democratic leaders argued the resolution “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations” and would make it harder for the committee “to investigate and eliminate sexual misconduct in the House.”
“Here and elsewhere, perpetrators of sexual misconduct should never be shielded from responsibility for their misdeeds,” Chairman Michael Guest and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier said. But they added that “victims may be retraumatized by public disclosures of interim work product, excerpts of interview transcripts, and certain exhibits. And witnesses, who often only speak to the Committee confidentially or on condition of future anonymity, could fear retaliation if their cooperation is made public.”
Mace has spoken openly about her own experiences as a sexual assault survivor and was one of just four House Republicans who teamed with Democrats on a discharge petition last fall that circumvented her own GOP leadership and eventually led to the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files.
She said her resolution came after NBC News and other outlets reported that Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas had sent sexual text messages to a female aide, Regina Santos Aviles, with whom he allegedly had an affair before she died by suicide last year. Gonzales previously denied having an affair but has not addressed the substance of allegations since the text messages surfaced.
“I would like members of Congress to tell their female colleagues where they stand on sexual harassment within the U.S. House of Representatives,” Mace told reporters. “Do you support women up here, that work up here, and who are your colleagues, or do you not?”
Earlier Wednesday, the House Ethics panel said it will open an investigation into the allegations against Gonzales. In a brief statement, Gonzales said “I welcome the opportunity to present all the facts to the committee.”
In Tuesday night’s Texas primary, Gonzales was forced into a May runoff election against GOP challenger Brandon Herrera.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
