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Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, on Monday urged every member of the House to put partisan politics aside and come together as soon as Wednesday to expel two male lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct from the chamber.<\/p>\n
The men, Representatives Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, and Tony Gonzales, Republican of Texas, are both expected to face motions to remove them from office this week. Mr. Swalwell suspended his campaign for California governor<\/a> on Sunday after news reports last week about accusations of sexual assault of a former staff member and sexual misconduct with other women.<\/p>\n Those accusations have reinvigorated a push to expel Mr. Gonzales, who admitted last month to a sexual relationship with a staff member<\/a> who later took her own life. He has not addressed a second accusation<\/a> that he pressured a former staff member into a sexual relationship. Though Mr. Gonzales suspended his re-election bid, he has resisted calls to step down.<\/p>\n Ms. Luna, who is leading the effort to expel Mr. Swalwell, has called for both men to be removed from their positions. In a letter to colleagues sent as lawmakers were returning to Washington after a two-week recess, a copy of which was viewed by The New York Times, she argued that both men had seriously damaged the reputation of the House and distracted from the work that members were doing on behalf of their constituents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAlthough we may have ideological differences among parties and political philosophy, the one thing that we should all agree on is that sexual harassment, inappropriate relationships with staff, and intentional and malicious violation of congressional House rules are unacceptable in the United States House of Representatives,\u201d Ms. Luna wrote.<\/p>\n The House Ethics Committee also announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation into the accusations made against Mr. Swalwell. The committee had already been investigating Mr. Gonzales when the second accusation against him surfaced.<\/p>\n Representative Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez of New Mexico, who leads the Democratic Women\u2019s Caucus, said that she planned to introduce a motion to expel Mr. Gonzales this week. Ms. Luna said in her letter that she would push the party\u2019s leaders to allow votes on both men\u2019s expulsions on Wednesday.<\/p>\n That would represent extraordinarily quick action against two sitting members of Congress who, despite facing serious allegations, have not been charged with criminal wrongdoing or been adjudicated by the ethics panel to have committed misconduct.<\/p>\n So far, Speaker Mike Johnson and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, have called on Mr. Swalwell and Mr. Gonzales to end their campaigns, but they have stopped short of publicly calling for their resignations or expulsions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But a number of lawmakers in both parties, many of them women, have already said that they, like Ms. Luna and Ms. Leger Fern\u00e1ndez, would vote to remove both men.<\/p>\n Expelling a member of the House requires a two-thirds majority, which is a difficult bar to clear. Representatives have traditionally been loath to expel their colleagues, arguing that voters should have the power to choose and oust their representatives. They often defer to the Ethics Committee and say that it would be improper to act on an accusation without a thorough investigation, though the panel is known for the slow pace of its inquiries and has been accused of covering for lawmakers\u2019 misdeeds.<\/p>\n But in her letter, Ms. Luna suggested that the accusations against Mr. Swalwell and Mr. Gonzales violated the public\u2019s trust in the House and necessitated that lawmakers move more quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the company we keep,\u201d Ms. Luna wrote, \u201cand no one should be forced to explain or own the misconduct of others that broke the sacred institutional honor that this body represents.\u201d<\/p>\n Annie Karni contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n