It turns out that Republican U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold  is far from the only lawmaker to dip into a public cache to pay off sexual harassment settlements.

Farenthold recently announced plans to take out a personal loan to pay back $84,000 he used from the Office of Compliance to pay a settlement to a woman who alleged he sexually harassed her.

Oh, but there’s more.

Now we learn that Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., used the fund to pay $220,000 to a woman who alleged he groped her and sought sexual favors from her. Hastings said he was unaware that the payoff came from public funds until it was just revealed to him. He contends it was all settled without his direct involvement.

There have been resignations from Congress of late over sexual abuse allegations. Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken is quitting; Republican U.S. Rep. Trent Franks has already quit; Democratic U.S. Rep. John Conyers is “retiring.” Will there be more? Stay tuned. I’m betting we’re going to hear about more congressional “retirements” and resignations.

As for this nonsense about using taxpayer money to settle these suits, it has to stop. There must be amendments to the law that created this fund in the fund in the first place.

I happen to be outraged to the max that public money is being used to pay these complaints off. These members of Congress aren’t misbehaving with taxpayer approval, correct? They are acting on their own. Thus, it makes zero sense to settle these complaints with public money that comes out of our pockets … yours and mine.

This newfound culture on Capitol Hill needs to include some serious reforms in the Office of Compliance. There is no justification for using public money to settle sexual harassment or sexual abuse claims leveled against members of Congress.