Is bad behavior becoming routine in Congress?

This year, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives left Congress or suspended reelection bids following accusations of misconduct—and several more are under investigation for allegations.

The problem is affecting Democrats and Republicans alike. Earlier this month, Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., dropped his reelection bid after the House Ethics Committee recommended his censure. And on Tuesday, Californians will select a replacement for former Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who resigned in April following accusations of sexual misconduct. The Ethics Committee on Aug. 4 announced an investigation into Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, for allegations of domestic abuse and drug use, and on Monday it announced an investigation into Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., over alleged sexual misconduct.

With the spate of misconduct claims and resignations, some voters may well wonder, is bad behavior becoming routine for elected officials?

According to the nonpartisan government transparency website GovTrack, seven members of Congress have resigned for alleged misbehavior since 2020. The group’s data indicates that while claims of supposed and proven misconduct in Congress peaked in the 2010s, around the time of the #MeToo movement, misconduct claims this decade have already reached their second highest point in U.S. history. The American people may be getting weary of it.

“The public is losing confidence in the ethics and integrity in all three branches of our government,” said Richard Painter, law professor at the University of Minnesota and former chief White House ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush. “Congress is not alone in this respect.”

Amid an increasingly polarized national political environment, there’s at least one thing Americans can agree on. Gallup’s congressional approval poll, running since 1974, found that disapproval of Congress among U.S. adults stood at 86% in April, tying a previous record high set in the 2010s.

“Right now what we’re seeing is a massive wave of staff and the public calling for accountability for abuses that have been long-standing,” said Michael Suchecki, communications director for the Congressional Progressive Staff Association (CPSA), the largest staff association on Capitol Hill. “A culture of corruption and harm from Congress has been perpetrated for years. And I think now that the public is finally fed up with Congress, we are starting to see them calling for accountability.”

In July, CPSA addressed a five-page letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the Committee on House Administration and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. CPSA wrote that the recent revelations of misconduct in Congress—specifically allegations of a sexual nature—revealed gaps in the reporting process for Hill staff. The letter laid out recommendations for reform, pressing the lawmakers to consider their requests as an urgent need for the effective operations of a congressional office.

Currently, some of the main avenues for reporting misconduct in Congress include the Committee on Ethics, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, and the Office of Employee Advocacy.

Painter said House and Senate ethics committees can be very sporadic, addressing some abuses and not others. “It’s what you’d expect of a system where people police themselves,” said Painter. “They sometimes don’t do a very good job of it.”

Painter said the ethics committees do little to address congressional stock trading, for example. But he added that, in an election year, Congress tends to be more sensitive to bad behavior because the incumbents want to stick around. “So they might want to have at least a few cases where it appears that they’re getting tough,” Painter said.

Amid Rep. Miller’s House ethics investigation, at least two Republican senators, including his former father-in-law, have called for him to resign his campaign. Last week, Miller passed Ohio’s mandated deadline for withdrawal from the November general election. Despite pressure from GOP senators and Democratic representatives, both President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Miller’s own chamber have opted to let the House ethics process play out.

Members of Congress rarely expel one another. In total, the House and Senate have expelled just 21 members since 1789, with 17 of those resulting from Civil War disputes.

When it comes to ethical behavior, Painter blames the executive branch for setting a loose standard. “I think members of Congress think, well, how about me? I can get away with it,” said Painter. “We’ve had a couple of presidents that set some pretty bad examples. I think Clinton, Trump, and Biden set some pretty bad examples through either family, conflicts of interest, or personal conduct.”

Looking forward, Suchecki from CPSA is tentatively optimistic about legislation Congress has been negotiating in the last few months to tackle misconduct. Reps. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., have spearheaded the legislation as the chairs of their respective party’s women’s caucuses. According to Politico, the two plan to unveil a framework for a bill that would revise House Ethics Committee operations and streamline the process for staffers reporting misconduct by September.

In an emailed statement to me, Cammack said accountability cannot begin and end with expulsion.

“Next month we’re introducing a package with significant reforms: a one-stop shop for reporting, real training that actually works, and accountability measures with teeth,” wrote Cammack. “Every piece has to pass a simple test: does it actually hold people accountable, or does it just look like it does? I’m not interested in reform that’s just for show.”

Painter and Suchecki both said that promoting good behavior in Congress is essential for attracting people to do the job of representing the American public.

“Accountability needs to happen. No matter the party they come from, no matter the race, no matter if the balance of power in Congress is in jeopardy,” said Suchecki. “We cannot have abusers in the halls of power, no matter what that means for us politically.”