Turn Up the Heat: Expel Cherfilus-McCormick and Kill the Disaster-Grift

Washington smells like burnt coffee and hot printer ink, like somebody fired up the grill for a town-hall barbecue and then left the lid closed while corruption did pull-ups. Today, the smoke is rising from the House Ethics Committee, not the burgers. And the question is simple: when disaster relief funds allegedly get diverted for private perks, does Congress act like it’s serious, or like it’s just waiting for the next news cycle to cool off?

Lawmakers weigh sanctions for Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida

Here’s the core of it, straight off the charcoal: the House Ethics Committee is weighing what punishment to recommend after it found Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick committed 25 violations of House rules and ethics standards, including alleged campaign finance law breaches. That is not a “seasoning mistake.” That’s a whole banquet worth of bad choices.

According to the report, the allegations center on how she allegedly received millions through her family health care business after Florida mistakenly overpaid it by roughly $5 million using COVID-19 disaster relief money. And the committee is not treating this like a vague misunderstanding. It is about where the money came from and why it showed up like grease on the grill at the wrong moment.

Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and says she is also not guilty of the ethics violations.

Criminal case adds a sharper edge

The AP report says she faces criminal charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in coronavirus disaster relief funds and using the money to buy items such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. That detail matters because it turns an ethics argument into something that feels hard to dodge.

How long does oversight cook?

While sanctions are being debated, the committee’s investigation stretched over two years and involved 59 subpoenas, 28 witness interviews, and a review of more than 33,000 pages of documents. The House Committee on Ethics records also show that on March 26, 2026, an adjudicatory subcommittee found certain counts proven by clear and convincing evidence and set up the next step.

What sanctions can mean, and why expulsion takes more than outrage

Potential punishments, as the AP report notes, include a reprimand or a censure and the possibility of a fine. The most severe option is expulsion. But expulsion is not easy: under the Constitution, at least two-thirds of the House has to vote for it. Only six members have been expelled in history, and the AP report highlights that previous cases include people expelled for disloyalty during the Civil War and people convicted of crimes, plus George Santos. Speaker Mike Johnson has said he believes the House will move to expel Cherfilus-McCormick, signaling the fight would need to clear that high threshold.

So here’s the challenge for lawmakers with clean hands and loud mouths: don’t hide behind process like process is a magic shield. If the ethics findings are real, then the sanctions need to be real. Let the smoke clear, and let the grill go cold for the next grifter who thought Congress was just another way to cash in.

Tell me straight: are you watching this like a grown-up, or are you still letting grift ride because the schedule is hard and the votes are difficult?