Still, Congress remains a workplace where victims say they have few effective avenues for recourse. 
 
 Mr. Meehan’s case sheds new light on secretive congressional processes for handling such complaints, which advocates say are slanted to favor abusers, allowing them to use the vast resources of the federal government to intimidate, isolate and silence their victims. 
 
 As a member of the Ethics Committee, Mr. Meehan was tasked with being a part of the solution. The panel has initiated investigations into sexual misconduct claims against at least four congressmen in recent months. Two have resigned: Trent Franks, Republican of Arizona, and John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan. The other two, Blake Farenthold, Republican of Texas, and Ruben Kihuen, a freshman Democrat from Nevada, remain in office but have said they will not seek re-election. 
 
 Mr. Meehan has been pushing for protections for domestic violence victims since his time as a local prosecutor. In Congress, he has sponsored legislation mandating the reporting of sexual violence, and he is a member of a bipartisan congressional task force to end such violence. 
 
 This account is based on interviews with 10 people, including friends and former colleagues of the former aide and others who worked around the office. The New York Times is not naming the former aide, who followed the recommended procedures for reporting harassment but came away from the experience feeling traumatized, according to several people with whom she shared her feelings. 
 
 Mr. Meehan’s family was close to the former aide, according to friends and colleagues, and she was regarded as an integral employee in the office, according to people who worked in or around the office. They said Mr. Meehan seemed to favor her over other employees, so much so that others saw his favoritism as unprofessional. He expressed interest in her personal relationships outside the office, then seemed to become jealous in April when word spread through the office about the aide’s boyfriend. After Mr. Meehan’s professions of attraction and subsequent hostility, the woman filed a complaint with the congressional Office of Compliance over the summer, alleging sexual harassment. 
 
 The handling of that complaint — which included an aggressive pushback by representatives from Mr. Meehan’s office and congressional lawyers, who suggested she had misinterpreted the congressman’s behavior — demoralized the aide. It led to her estrangement from her colleagues, and isolation from friends, family and her boyfriend, according to the people in whom she confided. It set her back financially and professionally, as she continued to pay legal costs associated with the complaint even after leaving her job in Mr. Meehan’s office and struggling to find a new one. She moved back in with her parents and ultimately decided to start a new life abroad. 
 
 Mr. Meehan was represented in this process by two officials from his congressional office and two lawyers for the House’s office of employment counsel. 

 FILE - In this March 20, 2013 file photo, Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, after... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this March 20, 2013 file photo, Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, after the New York Times reported that Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a complaint that stemmed... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this March 20, 2013 file photo, Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, after the New York Times reported that Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a complaint that stemmed... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 20, 2013 file photo, Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, after... (Associated Press) 
 
 HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan called for an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday after the New York Times reported that U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a complaint that stemmed from his hostility toward a former aide who rejected his romantic overtures. 
 
 The story, published online Saturday, cited unnamed people who said the Republican Pennsylvania representative used thousands of dollars from his congressional office fund to settle the sexual harassment complaint the ex-aide filed last summer to the congressional Office of Compliance. 
 
 In a statement, Ryan's spokeswoman said the allegations must be investigated "fully and immediately" by the House Ethics Committee and that Meehan would immediately submit himself to the committee's review. Meehan is being removed from his position on the committee, and Ryan told Meehan that he should repay any taxpayer funds that were used to settle the case, Ryan's spokeswoman said. 
 
 The Times did not identify the accuser and said she did not speak to the newspaper. 
 
 In a statement, the four-term congressman's office denied that Meehan sexually harassed or mistreated the ex-aide. It also said Meehan, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, had asked congressional lawyers who handled the case to ask the ex-aide's lawyer to dissolve the settlement's confidentiality requirements "to ensure a full and open airing of all the facts." 
 
 "Throughout his career he has always treated his colleagues, male and female, with the utmost respect and professionalism," Meehan's office said. 
 
 The accuser's lawyer, Alexis Ronickher, called the allegations "well-grounded" and rejected the idea of doing away with confidentiality. Meehan is trying to victimize her client twice by revealing the woman's identity and litigating the case in the media, Ronickher said. 
 
 Ronickher called it a "dirty political maneuver" by Meehan and an effort to save his political career by making it look like he's being transparent. 
 
 "Mr. Meehan demanded confidentiality to resolve the matter, presumably so that the public would never know that he entered into a settlement of a serious sexual harassment claim," Ronickher said. 
 
 Ronickher said the Ethics Committee investigation must include the fact that Meehan, in his Saturday statement responding to the Times article, "knowingly breached confidentiality in his agreement by discussing the case and the terms of any potential settlement agreement." 
 
 Meehan's office did not respond to questions about whether he used taxpayer money to settle the case or whether he would submit to the Ethics Committee investigation. However, his office said Meehan would only act with advice of House lawyers and in line with House Ethics Committee guidance to resolve any allegation. 
 
 "Every step of the process was handled ethically and appropriately," Meehan's office said. 
 
 Meehan represents a closely divided district that Democrat Hillary Clinton narrowly won in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 Calls from Democrats for Meehan to resign were immediate, including one from Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who said the U.S. House should investigate "how this matter was handled from top to bottom."
– House Speaker Paul Ryan called for an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday after the New York Times reported that US Rep. Patrick Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a complaint that stemmed from his hostility toward a former aide who rejected his romantic overtures. The story cited unnamed people who said the Republican Pennsylvania representative used thousands of dollars from his congressional office fund to settle the sexual harassment complaint the ex-aide filed last summer to the congressional Office of Compliance. Ryan's spokeswoman said the allegations must be investigated "fully and immediately" by the House Ethics Committee and that Meehan would immediately submit himself to the committee's review. Meehan is being removed from his position on the committee, and Ryan told Meehan that he should repay any taxpayer funds used to settle, reports the AP. In a statement, the four-term congressman's office denied that Meehan sexually harassed or mistreated the ex-aide. It also said Meehan had asked congressional lawyers who handled the case to ask the ex-aide's lawyer to dissolve the settlement's confidentiality requirements "to ensure a full and open airing of all the facts." "Throughout his career he has always treated his colleagues, male and female, with the utmost respect and professionalism," Meehan's office said. The accuser's lawyer, Alexis Ronickher, called the allegations "well-grounded" and rejected the idea of doing away with confidentiality. Meehan is trying to victimize her client twice by revealing the woman's identity and litigating the case in the media, Ronickher said. "Every step of the process was handled ethically and appropriately," Meehan's office said.