Two House Republicans who were key last month in helping oust a pair of colleagues facing sexual misconduct allegations are now eying GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards — the two-term North Carolina lawmaker being investigated by the Ethics Committee for allegedly having an improper relationship with a subordinate and sexually harassing staff.

“ANY member of congress engaging in an inappropriate relationship with staff needs to go,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said when asked about the allegations against Edwards.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said in a statement, “We stand with those who came forward and we expect the Ethics Committee to move swiftly and hold those who committed wrongdoing fully accountable.”

“We have said it from the beginning, if you are abusing your power in Congress it does not matter if you have an R or a D beside your name, there needs to be consequences for your actions,” Mace added.

In a statement Tuesday, Edwards said the “baseless allegations [are] designed to impact the campaign driven by those who want to settle old political scores.”

But Mace and Luna are two of the GOP’s most vocal advocates for victims of sexual misconduct, and most effective at amplifying their message on social media. They publicly pushed for the resignations last month of Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who were forced to leave office amid Ethics Committee investigations into accusations of sexual impropriety involving staffers. Gonzales admitted to an affair with a staffer, while Swalwell has apologized for lapses in his judgement but denied allegations of sexual assault.

Mace and Luna’s new warnings for Edwards — whose investigation by the Ethics Committee was confirmed by two people briefed on the matter, granted anonymity to share details of confidential proceedings — also come during the most significant reckoning over inappropriate behavior on Capitol Hill since the #MeToo era.

Leaders of both parties under increasing pressure to police their own members and prevent rampant misconduct from going unchecked. Some senior Republicans have been aware for several months about allegations that Edwards had an improper sexual relationship with a staffer, according to one of the people and three others with knowledge of the matter. Some in the GOP have declined to take photos with Edwards or appear with him at public events as a result, according to the people.

The House Ethics Committee has not yet created a subcommittee to investigate Edwards, a step which must be publicly announced and kickstarts the adjudicative process. A committee spokesperson declined to comment. The two people with knowledge of the current inquiry into Edwards, however, said the current inquiry involves an alleged relationship Edwards had with a subordinate and also alleged sexual harassment of staff.

A third person aware of the allegations against Edwards also said the lawmaker is being accused of sexual harassment and engaging in an improper sexual relationship with a staffer. That person also said Edwards allegedly gave a staff member a poem, a puzzle and flowers.

Axios first reported on the existence of the Ethics probe, and BLN reported further details on the allegations Edwards is facing.

“We welcome the ethics inquiry because it allows for facts to be entered into the record, not public allegations designed to drive media interests,” Edwards said in his statement Tuesday.

The political stakes are high for Edwards, who is facing a competitive race this November as national Democratic groups heavily target his seat. Mace, meanwhile, is running for governor of South Carolina and has made being a champion of women a centerpiece of her political identity. She has called for greater transparency in investigations of misconduct on Blue Light News, including by seeking adoption of a measure that would have forced the release of sexual harassment claims against lawmakers.

The Ethics Committee’s bipartisan leadership lobbied against that measure, saying it would have a chilling effect on victims. The House then voted to effectively kill it.

But the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee later voted to subpoena information on government-paid settlements of sexual harassment allegations against lawmakers or their offices. Mace released a list of settlementsMonday provided by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights — most, but not all of which had been previously disclosed.

“The corruption and misconduct in Congress goes far deeper than anyone outside Washington knows,” Mace said in the statement about the allegations against Edwards.

Senate Republicans are including funding for Secret Service security upgrades related to President Donald Trump’s ballroom project as part of a nearly $72 billion package that would shovel cash to immigration enforcement agencies.

The package includes $1 billion in Secret Service funding for “security adjustments and upgrades” including at the White House. This is on top of the almost $3.3 billion the agency received already under the fiscal 2026 DHS funding bill signed into law Thursday.

The White House touted the security funding’s inclusion Tuesday, which it views as Congress approving a project that is currently mired in litigation. A federal judge ruled last month legislators had not properly authorized the project.

“The White House applauds Congress’s latest proposal in its reconciliation package which includes additional funding for security infrastructure upgrades in relation to the long overdue East Wing Modernization Project,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement. “Congress has rightly recognized the need for these funds.”

The fund could be used for Secret Service “enhancements” related to the East Wing project, “including above-ground and below-ground security features.” The bill released by the Senate Judiciary Committee stipulates the funds cannot be used for nonsecurity aspects of the project.

All of the funds doled out in the package would remain available through Sept. 30, 2029 — past the end of Trump’s term.

Clare Slattery, a spokesperson for Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said that the bill “does not fund ballroom construction” but “provides funds for Secret Service enhancements that will ensure all presidents, their families and their staffs are adequately protected.”

Two other congressional aides, granted anonymity to speak candidly, also said the legislation does not provide congressional authorization for the larger ballroom construction because the funds are limited to Secret Service security upgrades.

But the Trump administration and its political allies have argued in the wake of the shooting late last month at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that the East Wing renovation is necessary for security. Trump has personally pointed to the security features the ballroom would have, including thick bulletproof glass, and administration lawyers argued in court that security concerns justified continuing with the project.

“I’m building a safe ballroom, and one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night,” he said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” the day after the shooting.

Ingle, in his statement Tuesday, said the “the proposal would provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS.”

The $1 billion fund is part of a party-line package Republicans are aiming to clear for Trump’s signature by month’s end. It is more than double the $400 million Trump has estimated for the ballroom project, which he has said will be privately financed.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has offered a separate bill to fund the project, told reporters late last month that he envisioned a bunker underneath the ballroom for Secret Service and other national security needs.

Democrats quickly seized on the Secret Service provision and hinted they will force a vote on the Senate floor later this month when Republicans try to pass the overall package.

“Just flagging that now everyone gets an up or down vote on the ballroom!” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote on X.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer added that “Republicans looked at families drowning in bills and decided what they really needed was more raids and a Trump ballroom.”

The bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee would total nearly $40 billion, including more than $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with smaller amounts for Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security secretary’s office and the Justice Department.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel also released a bill outlining more than $32.5 billion in spending for immigration enforcement — most of it for CBP agencies, including Border Patrol.

Republicans want to bring the immigration enforcement funding package to the floor the week of May 18. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a statement he planned to hold a vote on the panel’s bill later in May.

In addition to trying to squeeze Republicans over the East Wing project, Democrats are planning to comb through the legislation for any procedural defects they can exploit. To skirt the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster, a reconciliation bill has to comply with strict guidelines known as the Byrd rule.

“Senate Democrats are prepared to review this bill line by line and vigorously challenge any provision that violates the Byrd Rule,” said Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee.

“At a time when gas prices are rising every day due to Trump’s war of choice with Iran and families continue to struggle to buy groceries, Republicans are ignoring the needs of middle-class America and instead funneling money into Trump’s ballroom and throwing billions at two lawless agencies — agencies that are already sitting on over $100 billion in unspent funds,” he added.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

The federal government paid out more than $338,000 to settle allegations of sexual harassment on behalf of House members or their offices since 2004 — far more than had been previously known — according to Rep. Nancy Mace and a person granted anonymity to describe data provided to the House Oversight Committee.

The panel subpoenaed the information detailing the government payouts after a March committee vote, seeking a full accounting of secret payouts made before the settlements were ended in 2018. Some of the payments have been previously reported, but not all.

Mace (R-S.C.) released a list of offices that had been implicated in the settlements, including former Reps. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) — all of whom have been previously publicly implicated in misconduct.

Mace also listed a settlement of $8,000 for the office of the late Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) as well as a $15,000 payout associated with former Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.).

Alexander, who left Congress in 2013, said in a brief interview Monday the complaint concerned a former staffer, whom Alexander fired after learning of the accusation. A message to a former McCarthy aide seeking to learn more about the settlement was not immediately returned.

News of the settlements comes amid renewed scrutiny of how allegations of sexual misconduct against lawmakers are handled after former Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) resigned last month over claims of inappropriate behavior with staff. For the first time since the #MeToo reckoning, lawmakers have begun to meaningfully reexamine how they adjudicate such accusations.

Mace said she would release the records provided under subpoena “once we confirm that personally identifiable information of victims and witnesses has been properly redacted.”

“Accountability is not a threat,” she wrote. “It is a promise.”

The payouts she listed, which were confirmed by the person familiar with the data provided to the Oversight Committee, included some that had already been publicly disclosed.

Blue Light News reported in 2018, for instance, that Meehan promised to reimburse the government for a $39,000 severance payment to settle a sexual harassment claim. Farenthold also resigned in 2018, amid a House Ethics Committee inquiry into his conduct and in the wake of revelations about a $84,000 settlement with a former staffer. Farenthold died last year.

Others, however, appear to be new revelations, and the total scope of the payments is about double what was disclosed to lawmakers in 2017 during the last period of intense focus on lawmaker misconduct.

Public reporting linked Massa, who resigned pending an Ethics Committee probe in 2010, with an $85,000 settlement, but the payments listed by Mace include an additional $30,000. Massa could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Similarly, Conyers — who died in 2019 — had been publicly associated with a roughly $27,000 severance payment made in 2014 to an accuser. Mace lists a separate $50,000 payment made in 2010.

The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights said in a letter to Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) that it had approved 80 awards or settlements for complaints against House or Senate lawmakers’ offices between 1996 and 2018, part of a total of 349 complaints made against legislative branch offices. The letter said a number of case files had been destroyed or were scheduled to be destroyed pursuant to OCWR’s retention policy.

“There is sufficient available information in the case files to confirm that 30 of the settlements involved matters where the Member was alleged to have committed the misconduct, or where the Member was specifically alleged to know about the misconduct committed by their subordinate, or both,” the letter stated. “In all 30 of these cases, the Member is a Member of the House of Representatives.”

In 2018, Congress passed a law prohibiting the federal government from paying for lawmakers’ settlements for sexual harassment claims. No payments have been made since 2017.