Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) said she is refusing to resign even after a House Ethics Committee investigation found that she committed several ethics violations.
Some lawmakers are trying to get enough support to expel Cherfilus-McCormick.
From Fox News:
The House Ethics Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon to formally recommend punitive action against the embattled lawmaker. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has vowed to force a vote on Cherfilus-McCormick’s expulsion regardless of the committee’s suggested sanction.
Despite the looming expulsion threat, Cherfilus-McCormick has resisted calls to quit Congress on her own terms.
"For those asking whether I plan to resign, the answer is no," Cherfilus-McCormick recently told Fox News Digital. "This is not the time to abandon the district, not when they too are fighting for their future."
A successful expulsion vote would make Cherfilus-McCormick the first lawmaker since former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2023 to be expelled by the House. Just six lawmakers have been expelled from the House in U.S. history.
Cherfilus-McCormick was found guilty of more than two dozen ethics violations involving financial misconduct during a rare House ethics trial in March. She has denied any wrongdoing and is facing a separate criminal trial after being indicted by a federal grand jury in 2025.
The guilty ethics verdict centered on a charge that Cherfilus-McCormick funneled more than $5 million in disaster relief funds to her campaign that was improperly paid to her family’s healthcare company.
A House Ethics committee found Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of 25 ethics violations - stealing millions in FEMA funds & funneling them into her 2022 campaign. They can expel her under Constitution Article I, Section 5 w/a 2/3rds vote. I'm assuming they don't have the votes.
— Nancy Rumney (@nancy_rumney1) April 16, 2026
A House ethics panel found that the lawmaker was guilty of 25 out of 27 ethics violation after a public hearing. The most serious allegations were tied to her use of $5 million in FEMA overpayments for her campaign.
House Ethics committee releases the 26 violations they found on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
— America First Insight (@AF_Insight) April 20, 2026
This is a safe D seat in the Miami Metro area. Anna Paulina Luna says an expulsion vote will happen tomorrow against Sheila. pic.twitter.com/Lh3pEM1U68
After her family health care company received the $5 million in overpayments for a COVID-19 vaccination contract in 2021, she moved it through multiple bank accounts to conceal its origins, according to a Justice Department indictment. A significant chunk of these funds were used to support her 2021 congressional campaign through direct contributions from the company and creating “straw donors” by routing the money to friends and family members so they could donate in their own names. This was designed to make it appear as if the donations came from legitimate sources.
Republican Rep. Greg Steube (FL-17) has been the driving force behind the effort to expel Cherfilus-McCormick. He introduced a resolution in 2025 citing her indictment and the ethics committee findings against her.