Ethics panel opens investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace over housing costs

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into allegations that Rep. Nancy Mace overcharged a congressional program intended to help defray housing costs for lawmakers who have residences in Washington.

Mace, a South Carolina Republican now in her third House term, denies the allegations, decrying a “partisan” process and saying officials had “ignored” her rebuttal evidence.

The Office of Congressional Conduct, after an investigation, said it believes that “there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Mace engaged in improper reimbursement practices." The office sent its findings to the Ethics panel for review.

Mace took part in a program that helps members of Congress defray the costs of their bifurcated existences between Washington and their home districts, subsidizing food, travel and lodging expenses. During 2023 and 2024, her second term in office, the report alleges Mace recouped about $9,500, “more than the true costs" for the Washington home she shared with her then-fiancé.

Noting that Mace "refused to interview" as part of its probe, the office said it “was unable to determine how or why Rep. Mace decided to seek the maximum allowable reimbursement when it exceeded her expenses incurred.”

Allowing that “Mace’s lodging expenses may have exceeded the maximum allowable reimbursement for some months,” the report said that its available evidence “suggests Rep. Mace did not take appropriate measures to ensure she sought reimbursement for expenses actually incurred.”

In a December letter filed with the committee, an attorney for Mace wrote that the congresswoman's former fiancé, with whom she ended her relationship in late 2023, had been "engaged in an ongoing campaign to discredit and injure the Congresswoman through false narratives and misuse of legal process, and that any information originating from them would raise serious credibility concerns."

Despite that, attorney William Sullivan Jr. said the office declined to disclose if the former fiancé had been involved with the investigation. He said the referral to Ethics “appears to rely heavily on unverified materials originating from individuals with personal or adversarial motives.”

GOP Rep. Michael Guest of Florida, chairman of the Ethics Committee, said the referral about Mace was received in December. The committee's decision to investigate is not evidence of wrongdoing, and Guest pointed out that the committee wouldn't make further comment until it completes an investigation.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP