The House on Tuesday passed a resolution from Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, to shed more light on taxpayer-funded payments to settle sexual misconduct claims against House members.
The vote was 420-0, according to The Washington Times.
In 1995, Congress passed the Congressional Accountability Act, which set up a fund to settle such claims against lawmakers. In 2018, as Congress wallowed in sexual harassment claims, the law was updated to force lawmakers to pay for settlements themselves.
Massie said the resolution was needed to increase transparency around the payouts from 1995 to 2018 and close a potential loophole in the 2018 law.
🚨 BREAKING: The House has PASSED @RepThomasMassie’s resolution to FORCE the release of names of Congressmen who used the Congressional slush fund to pay out for sexuaI misconduct settlements, 420-0
These are TAXPAYER DOLLARS being used to PAY OFF accusers.
And it’s all about… pic.twitter.com/RFJD8DgIii
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 30, 2026
Massie’s proposal requires the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights and the House Ethics Committee to release a list of members for whom settlements were paid, according to Roll Call. The list must be released within 60 days.
“I would urge my colleagues to vote for this in the interest of transparency and openness,” Massie said before the vote.
Will the report the House releases be trustworthy and accurate?
Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, proposed a broader measure earlier in the year that would have made public the results of sexual misconduct investigations.
Massie said Tuesday he tried to “limit the scope of mine” to avoid an objection that the resolution was too broad.
He said his resolution widens “the definition of a claim for sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual misconduct, so that it might catch things that weren’t disclosed.”
The resolution was brought to the floor through a process called privilege, which allows votes on proposals without the backing of House leaders.
Rep. Kat Cammack, a Republican from Florida, said she backed Massie’s proposal, as she had Mace’s, because she wants to “really see a change in the culture up here on Capitol Hill.”
Mace eventually went the subpoena route to get information.
But “you shouldn’t have to go get a subpoena through a committee to go find this,” Massie said Tuesday.
Mace wrote on X in May that “our subpoena has uncovered settlements totaling $338,000 from Congress’s sexual harassment slush fund.”
“Nine members named. Records before 2004 – destroyed. 357 members of Congress voted to keep it hidden. We’re leading the charge to release them despite their opposition,” she posted.
Mace named names and amounts but offered no context for the settlements.
Her text read, “2007: Rodney Alexander ($15,000) 2009: Office of Carolyn McCarthy (2 cases resulting in 1 settlement) ($8,000) 2010: Eric Massa I ($85,000) 2010: Eric Massa II ($20,000) 2010: Eric Massa III ($10,000) 2010: John Conyers I ($50,000) 2014: Blake Farenthold ($84,000) 2014: John Conyers (Severance pay $27,111.75) 2017: Patrick Meehan (2 cases resulting in 1 settlement) (Severance pay $39,250).”
In February, Mace called for the House Ethics Committee to publicly release all information on allegations against members of the House.
“If you sexually harass someone in Congress you do not get to hide behind closed doors,” she said then.
“The American people deserve answers. Staff deserve answers. Women deserve answers. No more protection for predators in Congress. We are going to shine a light on every single one of them,” she added.
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