357 Voted to Bury the Records?
WHY would ANY member of Congress vote against full disclosure on sexual predators?
CONTENT WARNING: This issue documents the death by self-immolation of a 35-year-old mother and congressional staffer, including her final words on a 911 call, the autopsy, and the name of the eight-year-old son she left behind.
The events described are verified and horrifying.
Please consider before reading.
It documents a vote that buried the records. It names every member of Congress who cast that vote, from the official roll call. It asks questions that have not been answered. You are about to read what your government decided you didn’t need to know.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988.
A woman set herself on fire.
She screamed into a 911 call: “Oh my God, I don’t want to die.”
The Congressman who pressured her for explicit photos admitted the affair that morning.
That afternoon he voted to bury the records.
357 members of Congress voted with him.
Not against him.
WITH HIM.
182 of them were Democrats.
And then the Sunday morning news shows came and went without a single mention.
This is not an indictment.
Not yet.
Because something about this story doesn’t add up, and I’d rather ask the right questions than deliver the wrong verdict.
THE FACTS
Regina Ann Santos-Aviles was 35.
Mother to an eight-year-old boy named Axel.
Director of Rep. Tony Gonzales’s regional district office in Uvalde, Texas, where she had worked since 2021.
On the night of September 13, 2025, she doused herself with gasoline in her backyard and lit a handheld lighter. She tried to put herself out. She rolled on the ground. She crawled to a garden hose. Her mother was on the phone. She heard her daughter say: “I don’t want to die.”
She walked through her own home leaving a trail of blood and burned skin before collapsing on the front porch. Paramedics airlifted her to San Antonio. She died the next morning at 6:34 a.m. The autopsy found her body nearly 100% burned. Only the soles of her feet were spared.
A former staffer told the San Antonio Express-News that Santos-Aviles spiraled into depression after her husband discovered the affair with Gonzales and Gonzales cut her off.
On the morning of March 4, 2026, six months after her death, Gonzales went on a conservative talk show and admitted the affair for the first time. He had denied it for months. Text messages published by the Express-News showed him pressuring her for explicit photos.
She resisted.
He persisted.
He called it “a lapse in judgment.”
That afternoon…
HE VOTED TO BURY THE RECORDS.
BURY THE RECORDS.
THAT SAME AFTERNOON, H.Res. 1100, introduced that morning by Rep. Nancy Mace, would have required the House Ethics Committee to release all investigative records related to sexual harassment by members of Congress. Victims’ names redacted. Witnesses protected. Only members’ names exposed. Full disclosure: Mace is running for governor of South Carolina and is herself under Ethics Committee review for improper reimbursement of DC lodging expenses. Her motivations may not be pure.
Her facts are still facts.
The House voted 357-65 to refer it to the Ethics Committee. The same committee the resolution was designed to compel. The same committee that, hours earlier, had opened an investigation into Gonzales. One member, Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC), a member of the Ethics Committee itself, voted Present. He has not explained why. Nine members did not vote.
Zero cosponsors.
Zero amendments offered.
Zero alternative resolutions filed.
Zero senators have spoken about it.
As of this morning, zero Sunday shows have mentioned it.
WHY???
The Ethics Committee argued, in a joint bipartisan statement, that forced disclosure “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation” and that “victims may be retraumatized.”
Mace wrote victim protection into the resolution.
Full redaction of personally identifiable information for victims, alleged victims, and witnesses.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted to bury, said the text was flawed.
She said it “redacted names & NOTHING else,” that House employment records could be cross-referenced to reverse-identify victims, that victim consent was missing, and that unsubstantiated allegations would be released alongside proven ones. She said the vote was rushed. She said they were supposed to have two days of debate and “for some reason they rushed the vote.”
These are legitimate concerns.
Give them their weight.
Now ask one question: where is the fix?
WHY???
That same afternoon, on the same day, in the same building, the House Oversight Committee passed a subpoena for Attorney General Bondi on the Epstein files. Bipartisan.
Then Mace forced a second subpoena vote for the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights on all pre-2018 taxpayer-funded settlements involving members of Congress. Ranking Democrat Robert Garcia offered an amendment to narrow the scope to members only, excluding staff settlements. Mace accepted it. The subpoena passed by bipartisan voice vote.
The amendment process worked when members wanted it to work.
On the floor vote for H.Res. 1100.
NOBODY offered an amendment.
NOBODY proposed a competing version with stronger victim protections.
NOBODY introduced a clean alternative.
Not that day.
Not in the four days since.
The Congress.gov page for H.Res. 1100 reads:
Amendments (0).
Cosponsors (0).
Related Bills (0).
WHY???
The same Congress that says “believe women” sealed the records of what was done to them. The same Congress that voted nearly unanimously to release the Epstein files voted 357-65 to keep its own files sealed.
Transparency for thee.
Protection for me.
More Republicans voted for disclosure than Democrats. 38 to 27. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, voted for disclosure. AOC voted to bury. Jayapal’s vote proves the progressive caucus was willing. AOC co-authored the Protections and Transparency in the Workplace Act with Ted Lieu, requiring publicly traded companies to disclose sexual harassment settlements. She knows how to write disclosure legislation. She has the template.
She said fixing H.Res. 1100 was “not hard.”
She has not filed anything.
WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
I DO NOT KNOW.
And I’m not going to pretend I do.
But here are the scenarios… and here is the test each one has to pass.
Scenario One:
The text was genuinely dangerous to victims.
AOC’s concerns may be legitimate. Employment records could reverse-identify people in small offices. Victim consent should arguably be built in. Unsubstantiated allegations mixed with substantiated ones could harm accusers and accused alike.
If this is the reason, the fix is straightforward.
Take AOC’s own corporate disclosure bill, adapt the framework for Congress, add victim consent, add a mechanism to distinguish substantiated from unsubstantiated findings, tighten the redaction language. AOC said “not hard.” Jayapal was willing.
The template exists.
Four days.
Nothing filed.
Scenario Two:
The Ethics Committee needs to protect ongoing investigations.
Guest and DeSaulnier argued disclosure would chill cooperation. Future witnesses might not come forward if they knew their testimony could become public.
If this is the reason, write a resolution that excludes active investigations and releases only completed ones. That’s a simple carve-out. Ethics Committee Chair Guest himself told Axios on February 25 that he “could support a version of the legislation allowing public release after an investigation concludes.” The chair of the committee that killed the resolution signaled openness to a narrower version. The same committee released findings on former Rep. Matt Gaetz in December 2024 after his resignation, over Guest’s own objections.
The precedent exists.
The door was open.
Nobody walked through it.
Scenario Three:
Members on both sides have personal exposure.
A $17 M I L L I ON SETTLEMENT FUND covers 264 cases under the Congressional Accountability Act.
Not all sexual harassment.
Some racial discrimination, disability, pay disputes.
The breakdown is sealed.
Nobody knows which members are in there or for what.
Post-2018 reforms require personal reimbursement going forward, but the pre-2018 records are locked.
If this is the reason, the bipartisan unity makes sense as SELF-PRESERVATION, NOT ideology.
A cleaner bill would expose them just as effectively.
No fix will come because the goal was never better language.
The goal was no language.
Scenario Four:
Leadership made a strategic calculation.
Mace is running for governor of South Carolina. She’s using this fight on her campaign website.
Republican leadership didn’t want members exposed during midterm season.
Democratic leadership didn’t want to hand Mace a win.
Both leaderships whipped against the resolution.
Mace confirmed this.
The 175-182 split corroborates it.
If this is the reason, the question is whether electoral strategy is an acceptable reason to seal harassment records. A clean Democratic alternative would have been the strategic win: transparency with victim protections, authored by Democrats, forcing Republicans to vote on a better version.
They didn’t do it.
Scenario Five:
Some combination of all of the above.
The text had real problems.
And members have personal exposure.
And leadership made calculations.
And the institution reflexively protects itself.
These are not mutually exclusive.
But every scenario fails the same test.
If the problem was the text, fix the text. Nobody has.
If the problem was the process, propose a better one. Nobody has.
If the problem was the timing, there’s been four days.
Nothing.
The absence of a clean alternative doesn’t prove a conspiracy.
Legislative drafting takes time.
Someone may file something next week.
But if NO CLEAN ALTERNATIVES appears in the coming weeks, the absence will speak for itself.
Because every stated objection has a legislative answer, and nobody has written one.
THE PATTERN
Democrats have spent years naming a playbook:
D E N Y
D E L A Y
D I S C R E D I T
… the accuser, hide behind process, route oversight into a committee where it dies, run the clock.
They named it the TRUMP PLAYBOOK.
They campaigned against it.
They impeached over it.
They invoked it during the Epstein file fight.
On March 4, 182 Democrats voted to refer a transparency resolution to the committee it was designed to expose, knowing it would die there. The Ethics Committee investigation of Gonzales has a built-in expiration: January 2027, when his term ends.
Hakeem Jeffries called Mace “an unserious individual.” His caucus voted 182-27 to bury. The next day he said he’d support expelling Gonzales. He will punish the one who got caught. He will not open the vault that shows how many more there are.
This is not a claim that Democrats are the same as Trump.
It is a question: does the pattern look familiar?
Because the institution teaches everyone who enters it the same reflexes. And the question for anyone who opposed that playbook on principle is whether they oppose it when their own side runs it.
THE PATH FORWARD
This does not have to end here.
It ends here only if you let it.
What would resolution look like?
A clean disclosure resolution.
Victim consent built in.
Substantiated findings only, or a clear evidentiary standard.
Active investigations excluded.
Completed investigations released with full redaction of victim, witness, and complainant identities.
Introduced by a Democrat, so nobody can call it a Republican stunt.
Co-sponsored across the aisle, so nobody can call it partisan.
AOC could file it tomorrow.
She has the template from her own corporate disclosure bill.
Jayapal would co-sponsor.
Khanna would co-sponsor.
Twenty-seven Democrats already voted for a version with less protection.
A cleaner version gets more, not fewer.
If nobody files it, you have your answer about what happened on March 4.
If someone does, you have your proof that the system can still correct itself when enough people are watching.
Watch.
And remember.
THE 65
These members voted against burying the resolution. Thirty-eight Republicans. Twenty-seven Democrats.
Republicans: Barrett (MI), Bean (FL), Bergman (MI), Biggs (AZ), Boebert (CO), Burchett (TN), Burlison (MO), Cammack (FL), Comer (KY), Crane (AZ), Crawford (AR), Donalds (FL), Downing (MT), Fine (FL), Fitzpatrick (PA), Gill (TX), James (MI), Kean (NJ), Langworthy (NY), Luna (FL), Mace (SC), Mackenzie (PA), Massie (KY), McClintock (CA), McGuire (VA), Miller (OH), Mills (FL), Moore (NC), Moore (WV), Norman (SC), Ogles (TN), Perry (PA), Roy (TX), Schmidt (KS), Schweikert (AZ), Spartz (IN), Stefanik (NY), Wilson (SC)
Democrats: Correa (CA), Davis (NC), Escobar (TX), Golden (ME), Gomez (CA), Grijalva (AZ), Jayapal (WA), Khanna (CA), Krishnamoorthi (IL), McBride (DE), McGovern (MA), Mfume (MD), Min (CA), Mrvan (IN), Neguse (CO), Perez (WA), Pettersen (CO), Pocan (WI), Riley (NY), Ryan (NY), Salinas (OR), Schrier (WA), Sorensen (IL), Swalwell (CA), Takano (CA), Tran (CA), Vindman (VA)
THE 357
Official Roll Call Vote 83, 119th Congress, 2nd Session. March 4, 2026. Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.
Every name below voted to keep congressional sexual harassment records sealed.
Adams (D-NC) -- Aderholt (R-AL) -- Aguilar (D-CA) -- Alford (R-MO) -- Allen (R-GA) -- Amo (D-RI) -- Amodei (R-NV) -- Ansari (D-AZ) -- Arrington (R-TX) -- Auchincloss (D-MA)
Babin (R-TX) -- Bacon (R-NE) -- Balderson (R-OH) -- Balint (D-VT) -- Barr (R-KY) -- Barragán (D-CA) -- Baumgartner (R-WA) -- Beatty (D-OH) -- Begich (R-AK) -- Bell (D-MO) -- Bentz (R-OR) -- Bera (D-CA) -- Beyer (D-VA) -- Bice (R-OK) -- Biggs (R-SC) -- Bilirakis (R-FL) -- Bishop (D-GA) -- Bost (R-IL) -- Boyle (D-PA) -- Brecheen (R-OK) -- Bresnahan (R-PA) -- Brown (D-OH) -- Brownley (D-CA) -- Buchanan (R-FL) -- Budzinski (D-IL) -- Bynum (D-OR)
Calvert (R-CA) -- Carbajal (D-CA) -- Carey (R-OH) -- Carson (D-IN) -- Carter (R-GA) -- Carter (D-LA) -- Carter (R-TX) -- Casar (D-TX) -- Case (D-HI) -- Casten (D-IL) -- Castor (D-FL) -- Castro (D-TX) -- Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) -- Chu (D-CA) -- Ciscomani (R-AZ) -- Cisneros (D-CA) -- Clark (D-MA) -- Clarke (D-NY) -- Cleaver (D-MO) -- Cline (R-VA) -- Cloud (R-TX) -- Clyburn (D-SC) -- Clyde (R-GA) -- Cohen (D-TN) -- Cole (R-OK) -- Collins (R-GA) -- Conaway (D-NJ) -- Costa (D-CA) -- Courtney (D-CT) -- Craig (D-MN) -- Crank (R-CO) -- Crockett (D-TX) -- Crow (D-CO) -- Cuellar (D-TX)
Davids (D-KS) -- Davidson (R-OH) -- Davis (D-IL) -- De La Cruz (R-TX) -- Dean (D-PA) -- DeGette (D-CO) -- DeLauro (D-CT) -- DelBene (D-WA) -- DeLuzio (D-PA) -- DeSaulnier (D-CA) -- DesJarlais (R-TN) -- Dexter (D-OR) -- Diaz-Balart (R-FL) -- Dingell (D-MI) -- Doggett (D-TX) -- Dunn (R-FL)
Edwards (R-NC) -- Elfreth (D-MD) -- Ellzey (R-TX) -- Emmer (R-MN) -- Espaillat (D-NY) -- Estes (R-KS) -- Evans (R-CO) -- Evans (D-PA) -- Ezell (R-MS)
Fallon (R-TX) -- Fedorchak (R-ND) -- Feenstra (R-IA) -- Fields (D-LA) -- Figures (D-AL) -- Finstad (R-MN) -- Fischbach (R-MN) -- Fitzgerald (R-WI) -- Fleischmann (R-TN) -- Fletcher (D-TX) -- Flood (R-NE) -- Fong (R-CA) -- Foster (D-IL) -- Foushee (D-NC) -- Foxx (R-NC) -- Frankel (D-FL) -- Franklin (R-FL) -- Friedman (D-CA) -- Frost (D-FL) -- Fry (R-SC) -- Fulcher (R-ID)
Garamendi (D-CA) -- Garbarino (R-NY) -- Garcia (D-CA) -- García (D-IL) -- Gillen (D-NY) -- Gimenez (R-FL) -- Goldman (D-NY) -- Goldman (R-TX) -- Gonzales, Tony (R-TX) -- Gooden (R-TX) -- Goodlander (D-NH) -- Gosar (R-AZ) -- Gottheimer (D-NJ) -- Graves (R-MO) -- Gray (D-CA) -- Green (D-TX) -- Griffith (R-VA) -- Grothman (R-WI) -- Guest (R-MS) -- Guthrie (R-KY)
Hageman (R-WY) -- Hamadeh (R-AZ) -- Harder (D-CA) -- Haridopolos (R-FL) -- Harrigan (R-NC) -- Harris (R-MD) -- Harris (R-NC) -- Harshbarger (R-TN) -- Hayes (D-CT) -- Hern (R-OK) -- Higgins (R-LA) -- Hill (R-AR) -- Himes (D-CT) -- Hinson (R-IA) -- Horsford (D-NV) -- Houchin (R-IN) -- Houlahan (D-PA) -- Hoyer (D-MD) -- Hoyle (D-OR) -- Hudson (R-NC) -- Huffman (D-CA) -- Huizenga (R-MI) -- Hunt (R-TX) -- Hurd (R-CO)
Issa (R-CA) -- Ivey (D-MD)
Jack (R-GA) -- Jackson (R-TX) -- Jacobs (D-CA) -- Jeffries (D-NY) -- Johnson (D-GA) -- Johnson (R-LA) -- Johnson (R-SD) -- Johnson (D-TX) -- Jordan (R-OH) -- Joyce (R-OH) -- Joyce (R-PA)
Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) -- Kaptur (D-OH) -- Keating (D-MA) -- Kelly (D-IL) -- Kelly (R-MS) -- Kelly (R-PA) -- Kennedy (D-NY) -- Kennedy (R-UT) -- Kiggans (R-VA) -- Kiley (R-CA) -- Kim (R-CA) -- Kustoff (R-TN)
LaHood (R-IL) -- LaLota (R-NY) -- Landsman (D-OH) -- Larsen (D-WA) -- Larson (D-CT) -- Latimer (D-NY) -- Latta (R-OH) -- Lawler (R-NY) -- Lee (R-FL) -- Lee (D-NV) -- Lee (D-PA) -- Leger Fernandez (D-NM) -- Letlow (R-LA) -- Levin (D-CA) -- Liccardo (D-CA) -- Lieu (D-CA) -- Lofgren (D-CA) -- Loudermilk (R-GA) -- Lucas (R-OK) -- Luttrell (R-TX) -- Lynch (D-MA)
Magaziner (D-RI) -- Malliotakis (R-NY) -- Maloy (R-UT) -- Mann (R-KS) -- Mannion (D-NY) -- Mast (R-FL) -- Matsui (D-CA) -- McBath (D-GA) -- McCaul (R-TX) -- McClain (R-MI) -- McClain Delaney (D-MD) -- McClellan (D-VA) -- McCollum (D-MN) -- McCormick (R-GA) -- McDonald Rivet (D-MI) -- McDowell (R-NC) -- McGarvey (D-KY) -- McIver (D-NJ) -- Meeks (D-NY) -- Menefee (D-TX) -- Menendez (D-NJ) -- Meng (D-NY) -- Messmer (R-IN) -- Meuser (R-PA) -- Miller (R-IL) -- Miller (R-WV) -- Miller-Meeks (R-IA) -- Moolenaar (R-MI) -- Moore (R-AL) -- Moore (R-UT) -- Moore (D-WI) -- Moran (R-TX) -- Morelle (D-NY) -- Morrison (D-MN) -- Moskowitz (D-FL) -- Moulton (D-MA) -- Mullin (D-CA) -- Murphy (R-NC)
Nadler (D-NY) -- Neal (D-MA) -- Nehls (R-TX) -- Newhouse (R-WA) -- Norcross (D-NJ) -- Nunn (R-IA)
Obernolte (R-CA) -- Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) -- Olszewski (D-MD) -- Omar (D-MN) -- Owens (R-UT)
Pallone (D-NJ) -- Palmer (R-AL) -- Panetta (D-CA) -- Pappas (D-NH) -- Patronis (R-FL) -- Pelosi (D-CA) -- Peters (D-CA) -- Pfluger (R-TX) -- Pingree (D-ME) -- Pou (D-NJ) -- Pressley (D-MA)
Quigley (D-IL)
Ramirez (D-IL) -- Randall (D-WA) -- Raskin (D-MD) -- Reschenthaler (R-PA) -- Rivas (D-CA) -- Rogers (R-AL) -- Rogers (R-KY) -- Rose (R-TN) -- Ross (D-NC) -- Rouzer (R-NC) -- Ruiz (D-CA) -- Rulli (R-OH) -- Rutherford (R-FL)
Salazar (R-FL) -- Sánchez (D-CA) -- Scalise (R-LA) -- Scanlon (D-PA) -- Schakowsky (D-IL) -- Schneider (D-IL) -- Scholten (D-MI) -- Scott (D-VA) -- Scott, Austin (R-GA) -- Scott, David (D-GA) -- Self (R-TX) -- Sessions (R-TX) -- Sewell (D-AL) -- Sherman (D-CA) -- Shreve (R-IN) -- Simon (D-CA) -- Simpson (R-ID) -- Smith (R-MO) -- Smith (R-NE) -- Smith (R-NJ) -- Smucker (R-PA) -- Soto (D-FL) -- Stansbury (D-NM) -- Stanton (D-AZ) -- Stauber (R-MN) -- Steil (R-WI) -- Steube (R-FL) -- Stevens (D-MI) -- Strickland (D-WA) -- Strong (R-AL) -- Stutzman (R-IN) -- Subramanyam (D-VA) -- Suozzi (D-NY) -- Sykes (D-OH)
Taylor (R-OH) -- Tenney (R-NY) -- Thanedar (D-MI) -- Thompson (D-CA) -- Thompson (D-MS) -- Thompson (R-PA) -- Tiffany (R-WI) -- Timmons (R-SC) -- Titus (D-NV) -- Tlaib (D-MI) -- Tokuda (D-HI) -- Tonko (D-NY) -- Torres (D-CA) -- Torres (D-NY) -- Trahan (D-MA) -- Turner (R-OH)
Underwood (D-IL)
Van Drew (R-NJ) -- Van Duyne (R-TX) -- Van Epps (R-TN) -- Van Orden (R-WI) -- Vargas (D-CA) -- Vasquez (D-NM) -- Veasey (D-TX) -- Velázquez (D-NY)
Wagner (R-MO) -- Walberg (R-MI) -- Walkinshaw (D-VA) -- Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) -- Waters (D-CA) -- Watson Coleman (D-NJ) -- Weber (R-TX) -- Webster (R-FL) -- Westerman (R-AR) -- Whitesides (D-CA) -- Wied (R-WI) -- Williams (D-GA) -- Williams (R-TX) -- Wilson (D-FL) -- Wittman (R-VA) -- Womack (R-AR)
Yakym (R-IN)
Zinke (R-MT)
WHY???
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, during the Oversight Committee hearing that same afternoon:
“We just had a member of Congress literally sexually harass a woman that then lit herself on fire and you guys all protected him. You guys all protected him. My own side, your side.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert, on X:
“Go home and tell your daughters what you’ve done.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, March 7:
“A young woman is dead.
This story begins and ends with her.
Tony Gonzales is leaving.
She doesn’t get to.”
Regina Ann Santos-Aviles was 35 years old.
She left behind a boy named Axel who will grow up in a country where 357 people who could have done something chose not to.
This story has two possible endings.
In the first, nobody files a clean alternative. The Ethics Committee investigation runs its clock. The records stay sealed. The $17 million settlement fund stays locked. The story fades. And the next staffer who gets harassed looks at what happened to Regina Santos-Aviles and stays quiet. That ending is already being written.
In the second, someone in that building picks up a pen and writes what AOC said was “not hard.” A clean resolution. Victim consent. Substantiated findings. Proper redaction. Bipartisan co-sponsorship. A vote that forces every member to go on record again, this time against a bill that answers every objection.
There is also a second front already in motion.
The Oversight Committee subpoena for pre-2018 OCWR settlement records has legal teeth. If those records come back and show which members used taxpayer money to settle harassment claims, part of this fight resolves through a different door. That subpoena passed bipartisan.
It is active.
Watch it.
That ending hasn’t been written yet.
It’s waiting.
The question is not whether your government failed on March 4.
The question is what it does next.
And whether you’re watching when it decides.
The Edict will be watching.
This story is not over.
Source: Official Roll Call Vote 83, 119th Congress, 2nd Session, March 4, 2026. Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. clerk.house.gov/Votes/202683
Additional sourcing: NBC News, San Antonio Express-News, The Hill, Axios, Roll Call, Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, Rep. Mace official press releases (mace.house.gov), House Ethics Committee press release dated March 4, 2026, Congress.gov (H.Res. 1100 legislative record), Rep. Ocasio-Cortez public statements on X (March 7, 2026), Newsweek, Yahoo News.
This issue of The Edict was produced using the COGNITOR methodology. Claude (Anthropic) served as primary narrative partner. All factual claims are sourced from official congressional records, verified reporting, and on-the-record public statements. Readers are encouraged to verify independently.
Mark Dtayo Founder, RISE USA Editor/Cognitor, The Edict