佛罗里达州民主党众议员希拉·切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克从国会辞职周二下午，就在她将要面对众议院道德委员会制裁听证会之前。
委员会将举行一次会议罕见的公开听证会，以确定什么样的制裁是适当的，它建议众议院对Cherfilus-McCormick。
上个月，Cherfilus-McCormick在被判违反25项家庭道德准则，包括接受不正当的竞选捐款以及将竞选资金和个人资金混在一起。女议员被起诉2025年11月，联邦大陪审团指控她盗窃联邦紧急事务管理局500万美元的资金，她被指控洗钱以支持她成功的2021年国会竞选。
Cherfilus-McCormick否认有不当行为，称这些指控是会计错误。
在她的辞职声明中，这位国会女议员称这一过程为“政治迫害”
“在刑事起诉悬而未决的情况下，委员会继续推进这一程序，阻止了我为自己辩护，”她说。“我不能袖手旁观，允许我的正当程序权利被践踏，我的好名声被玷污。”
道德委员会主席迈克尔·盖斯特(Michael Guest)在该委员会短暂召开会议后大声宣读了这位女议员的辞职信，并表示随着她的辞职，该委员会已经失去了对切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克的管辖权。
“我会告诉你，委员会一直在努力调查此事，这不是像一些人声称的那样急于做出判断，这是一个非常深思熟虑的过程，旨在收集信息，以应对极其严重和极其复杂的指控，”Guest说。
资深民主党人马克·德索尔尼尔告诉委员会，“没有人感到高兴。我不认为我们中的任何人对我们所经历的感到高兴，但我为与你们所有人在一起而感到无比自豪。”
她是众议院第三位一周后辞职继得克萨斯州共和党众议员托尼·冈萨雷斯和民主党众议员埃里克·斯瓦尔韦尔被指控性行为不端并被即将面临努力让他们被开除。
开除议员是很少发生的事。罢免议员需要三分之二多数。
美国历史上只有六名众议员驱逐从下面的房间。前纽约共和党众议员乔治·桑托斯是最最近被逐出众议院的议员2023年。
委员会本可以建议一系列制裁措施，包括驱逐、谴责、申斥、罚款，甚至根据内务规则剥夺或限制任何权利。根据《宪法》第1条第5款，众议院可以惩罚其议员，并可以通过三分之二的投票开除其议员。
针对Cherfilus-McCormick的制裁建议预计将在听证会后以书面形式宣布。随后，专家组将召开执行会议，结束审议并做出判决。
在Cherfilus-McCormick宣布辞职之前，佛罗里达州共和党众议员Greg Steube表示，他将在制裁听证会后强行投票，试图驱逐这位女议员。斯特乌贝预计将使驱逐决议享有特权，这要求议长迈克·约翰逊在两个立法日内就此事举行投票。
议长上周暗示，因Cherfilus-McCormick涉嫌犯罪而将其驱逐出境将是“适当的”。
尽管众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)最初坚称民主党人不会帮助共和党人驱逐切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克(Cherfilus-McCormick)，但他周一表示，民主党人将召开一次核心会议，以确定他们将如何处理两党道德小组的建议。
在她辞职后，斯图贝呼吁司法部将切菲勒斯-麦考密克投入监狱。
“这是我们机构和伟大的佛罗里达州的胜利，”斯图贝说写于X。“感谢所有参与其中并保持压力的人。现在轮到DOJ把她送进监狱了。”
Embattled Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress
Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congresson Tuesday afternoon, just before she was to face a House Ethics Committee sanction hearing.
The committee was set to hold arare public hearing to determine what sanction would be appropriate for it to recommend to the full House against Cherfilus-McCormick.
Last month, Cherfilus-McCormick wasfound guilty of 25 House ethics violations, including acceptance of improper campaign contributions and commingling of campaign and personal funds. The congresswomanwas indictedin November 2025 by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, which she is accused of laundering to support her successful 2021 congressional campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick has denied wrongdoing, excusing the allegations as an accounting error.
In her resignation announcement, the congresswoman called the process a "witch hunt."
"By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself," she said. "I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished."
Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest read out loud the congresswoman's resignation letter after the committee briefly convened and said the committee had lost jurisdiction over Cherfilus-McCormick with her resignation.
"I will tell you that the committee has worked diligently to investigate this matter, that this was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim, that this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely serious and extremely complicated," Guest said.
Ranking Democrat Mark DeSaulnier told the committee, "Nobody's happy. I don't think any of us are happy at what we've gone through, but I am extremely proud of being associated with all of you."
She is the third member of the House toresign in a week, following Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who were accused of sexual misconduct and wereabout to face effortsby their colleagues to have them expelled.
Expelling a member of the House is a rare occurrence.A two-thirds majority is required to remove a member.
Only six House members in U.S. history have beenexpelledfrom the lower chamber. Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos was the mostrecent lawmaker expelled from the Housein 2023.
The committee could have recommended a range of sanctions, including expulsion, censure, reprimand, fine -- and even denial or limitation of any right, according to House rules. The House may punish its members and may expel its members by a two-thirds vote, according to Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution.
The sanction recommendation against Cherfilus-McCormick was expected to be announced in writing after the hearing. Afterward, the panel was to break into executive session to conclude its deliberations and reach a judgment.
Before Cherfilus-McCormick announced her resignation, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube said he would move to force a vote to try to expel the congresswoman following the sanction hearing. Steube was expected to make the expulsion resolution privileged, which required Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on the matter within two legislative days.
The speaker signaled last week that expelling Cherfilus-McCormick over her alleged crimes would be "appropriate."
Though he initially insisted that Democrats would not help Republicans expel Cherfilus-McCormick, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Monday that Democrats would convene a caucus meeting to determine how they'll handle the the bipartisan Ethics panel's recommendations.
After her resignation, Steube called on the Department of Justice to put Cherfilus-McCormick in prison.
"This is a victory for our institution and the great state of Florida," Steubewrote on X. "Thank you to everyone who stayed involved and kept the pressure on. Now it's on the DOJ to put her in prison."
