Lawmakers are debating changes to the House ethics process for handling allegations of sexual misconduct after the resignations of two scandal-scarred members and swirling claims of more revelations to come.

The debate, though, could take weeks or even months to play out, and it’s unclear if the bitterly divided House would be able to work out an agreement. In the meantime, some members are taking actions on their own to force transparency on sexual misconduct allegations.

“A lot of people are disgusted. There’s still staff that are coming forward, telling me about their members, and it’s just — it’s not good. It’s unacceptable,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has emerged as one of the top lawmakers calling for reform, told NOTUS.

The pressure for lawmakers to act comes as Congress faces a reckoning over its handling of sexual misconduct allegations, with members both privately and publicly discussing how to improve the ethics investigation process.

“I’m less than impressed with Ethics,” Luna said.

The House Ethics Committee has faced renewed public pressure after multiple outlets, including NOTUS, reported that Rep. Eric Swalwell faced sexual misconduct allegations from a former staffer. Rep. Tony Gonzales also admitted to an affair with a married staffer who later committeed suicide. Both of them, facing Ethics Committee investigations and the threat of expulsion votes from their colleagues, resigned last week. Swalwell has denied the allegations.

When asked whether she thought there could be actual change to how the Ethics Committee conducts investigations, Luna said there was a slight opportunity: “Maybe now that they’re getting pressure on it.”

Leaders on both sides of the aisle indicated they want to improve the investigation process. In a press conference Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson called the Ethics Committee “an essential component of this institution” and added that “we are looking at every potential avenue to tighten up the rules, and make sure that women have an avenue to report.”

Similarly, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Monday that “the Ethics Committee, as well as thought leaders in this Congress — certainly on the Democratic side, led by the leadership within the Democratic Women’s Caucus — are going to work on ensuring that we have the type of accountability and system in place that treats victims and staffers with the dignity and respect that they deserve.”

“Everything needs to be looked at to ensure that people are kept safe here in Congress and that women staffers and members are treated at all times with the dignity and respect that they deserve,” Jeffries added.

Lawmakers, primarily women, in the Democratic caucus are having preliminary discussions about what can be done to change the process, a person familiar with the talks told NOTUS. Options include having House staff weigh in on any changes, and speaking with aides in the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights and the Office of Employee Advocacy, which handle these issues as independent offices, as well as the Ethics Committee.

Congress has attempted to update the process before — prior to 2018, the federal government maintained what was known as a “sexual-harassment slush fund,” which was a special Treasury Department account that paid out settlements on behalf of members accused of misconduct. The #MeToo movement led to reforms requiring members to repay the cost of any settlements from personal funds, but the records of who used it remain anonymous.

Rep. Nancy Mace, with strong support from Luna, is now trying to change that. Luna posted on X that the House Oversight Committee, led by Mace, subpoenaed those records on March 27 in an effort to expose lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill.

A committee spokesperson told NOTUS that the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights is working to compile responsive documents and that “efforts will be made to protect victim information before any public release.” It remains unclear whether the names of lawmakers or the details of settlements will also be redacted.

“For too long, Congress has swept this under the rug, protecting predators at the expense of victims and taxpayers. Those days are over,” Mace said in a statement Tuesday. “The American people have unknowingly been paying for this cover-up.”

In the meantime, even senior members of the House Ethics Committee are starting to examine ways to revise how the committee and its staff conducts investigations. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, the top Democrat in the committee, told NOTUS that the committee is “mostly” run by the rules package the House adopts at the beginning of each Congress that governs House proceedings.

DeSaulnier, who would become chair of the committee if Democrats win the majority in November, said that “there’s a group of us” interested in looking at ethics reform in the rules package for the upcoming 120th Congress.

The House Ethics Committee issued a rare statement this week detailing how it handles sexual misconduct allegations. It touted a more aggressive investigative posture in recent years and urged victims and witnesses to report misconduct through official channels.

The committee said it has opened 20 investigations into sexual misconduct allegations against House members since 2017. The panel also released a list of the names it could share of members who had been investigated for sexual misconduct allegations.

Rep. Cory Mills is the only member with an open investigation for “sexual misconduct and/or dating violence,” according to the document. He currently has a restraining order against him issued by a Florida judge. Mills has denied wrongdoing.

“There should be zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, harassment, or discrimination in the halls of Congress, or in any employment setting,” the committee wrote in the statement Monday.

The statement also acknowledged a recurring frustration, which is that members who resign, retire or otherwise leave the House before an investigation concludes are no longer within the committee’s jurisdiction.

“That’s a level of transparency we have not seen out of the Ethics Committee,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, co-founder of the National Women’s Defense League. “It is an ongoing problem that there’s kind of a Get Out of Jail Free card — where you can resign with dignity, stop a political tsunami, stop talking about it, and move on to the politics of the day. That is not enough.”