Update at 6:12 p.m. ET: USA TODAY's Fredreka Schouten says a censure is the most serious form of punishment, short of expulsion. Rangel is also required to pay back taxes.

Fredreka writes that if the full House approves the censure, the charges will be read aloud and Rangel will be required to stand there and listen.

Update at 6 p.m. ET: The ethics committee has voted 9-1 to censure Rangel. Next step is to go to the full House for a vote; unclear when that will happen.

Update at 3 p.m. ET: The committee has finished its public meeting and will go behind closed doors. Staff counsel has recommended Rangel be censured for breaking ethics rules.

Update at 2:59 ET: Rangel ends with a passionate plea: "They will continue to call me a crook and call me corrupt. ... This member is not corrupt, and there is no excuse for my behavior. ... I never intended to enrich myself ... I apologize for any embarrassment I have caused you individually."

Update at 2:56 p.m. ET: Rangel appears to be trying to compose himself as he takes the floor at the behest of Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Rangel says he's always "tried to thank God for what he's given me. ... Charles Rangel never sought any personal gain. I've been overpaid ... for whatever I've gotten. "

Update at 2:48 p.m. ET: Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a former judge in North Carolina, says he does not believe Rangel's actions warrant censure.

Update at 2:37 p.m. ET: The committee is back and Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., is asking about lawmakers who have been censured.

Update at 1:35 p.m. ET: The committee is on a break as lawmakers go to vote on bills before the House.

Update at 1:30 p.m. ET: Chisam explains the counts that weighed more in his mind as he recommended censure. He says he looked harder at Rangel's failure to properly disclose his finances, the way he asked for funding for the policy center bearing the congressman's name and the non-payment of taxes.

Also weighing heavily: Chisam said it was the fact that at the time Rangel was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and "the effect on the public trust."

Update at 1:21 p.m. ET: Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., asks staff counsel Chisam why he recommends censure for Rangel and why not include a fine.

Chisam responds, "Censure would be a remarkable" thing on its own, but it would "not be inappropriate to find a sanction in the range between a reprimand and censure." He says a fine is "in the province of the committee."

Dent asks whether Rangel's walkout Monday should be taken into consideration. "I think that this is an institution that judges itself and ... each member's conscience, and variables that reflect on the institution may be considered as you see fit."

Update at 1:12 p.m. ET: Rangel says that had witnesses been called, the record would have shown that the City College of New York came to him asking for help to raise money for the public policy center at the heart of the case.

"I was not trying to criminally hide anything from the IRS or from the Congress," Rangel said, repeating again that it was "sloppiness" that led to him not disclosing assets and income.

Updated at 1:09 p.m. ET: What is the definition of corruption, asks GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. He notes that Rangel failed to pay taxes for 17 years.

Updated at 1:07 p.m. ET: Rangel and Bonner are arguing about witnesses. Earlier, ethics committee chief counsel Blake Chisam recommended that Rangel be censured for breaking ethics rules.

Updated at 1 p.m. ET: Lewis, a civil rights icon who will receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, starts talking about Rangel, a Korean War vet. Rangel is a "good and decent man, an honest man," Lewis says.

Lewis says Rangel, as a young man, came to Selma, Ala. and marched with him for civil rights. Lewis got beat up that day, in what is known as Bloody Sunday.

Updated at 12:57 p.m. ET: Rangel appears ready to turn the floor to Lewis, who is on hand to speak about what kind of man Rangel is. The congressman says he didn't want to speak on those points, calling them "self-serving."

Updated at 12:54 p.m. ET: Rangel reads from the record of Monday's hearing in which Chisam said the Democrat was not corrupt.

Rangel asks for the committee report to state that he "did not seek anything to gain personally. That's all I ever asked." Rangel repeats that he was "sloppy."

Updated at 12:51 p.m. ET: Rangel decries accounts that he is a "crook" and "corrupt." He wants the panel to clear up what he didn't do.

Updated at 12:49 p.m. ET: Rangel says, "I have never blamed anyone for my irresponsible behavior."

Updated at 12:47 p.m. ET: Rangel is up.

Updated at 12:45 p.m. ET: Chisam says the committee should recommend to the full House that Rangel be censured.

Updated at 12: 42 p.m. ET: Chisam asks Rangel to imagine what it's like for his constituents to learn that he didn't file his taxes and worked "for his personal interests not the public interest."

Updated at 12:33 p.m. ET: Chisam says Rangel used the "imprimatur and influence" of his office to solicit money, especially the clout of the Ways and Means Committee, which writes the tax code.

Updated at 12:27 p.m. ET: Chisam notes the committee has recommended nine times to reprimand a lawmaker and goes over the history of sanctions. He says the 11 counts were proven by "clear and convincing evidence."

Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET: Bonner says it is his "unwavering view" that "the actions, decisions and behavior of our colleague ... can no longer reflect honor or integrity." He goes on to say Rangel can only blame himself for his actions. We now move to the facts of the case, as described by committee staff director Blake Chisam, who serves as Rangel's prosecutor.

Updated at 12: 18 p.m. ET: Bonner says Rangel has "showed so little regard and respect for the institution he has claimed to love."

Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET: Alabama Rep. Jo Bonner, the committee's top Republican, says its task has been "difficult and unpleasant" because "many a newly elected member ... has been welcomed to the Capitol by that bigger-than-life, gravelly voiced" congressman, Charles Rangel.

Updated at 12:10 p.m. ET: Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., has begun the hearing. "The code of government ethics states clearly that a public office is a public trust," she says.

Updated at 12: 05 ET: A somber Rep. Charles Rangel has entered the room and reviewed notes for his opening remarks. He's been joined by his friend, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

Our original post begins here:

Updated at 11:45 a.m. ET

Rep. Charles Rangel could learn his punishment today from the House ethics committee for violating 11 counts of breaking ethics rules.

Rangel, who has represented New York's Harlem since 1970, is allowed 30 minutes to speak under the rules. The former Ways and Means Committee chairman is expected to be there.

The House ethics committee will meet briefly in public starting at noon but then will go behind closed doors to decide Rangel's fate. Then the full House will vote on the committee's recommendations, but probably not until after Thanksgiving.

On Monday, Rangel walked out as the hearing, or trial, began on charges that he misused his office for charitable fundraising and failed to report income and assets. He has complained that he has been denied his due-process rights and has been treated unfairly.

In July, as the charges against Rangel came to light, Rep. Gene Green let slip that the ethics subcomittee that had been investigating their colleague for the past two years was going to recommend a reprimand. Green, a Texas Democrat who led the investigative panel, apologized. It's unclear what the full committee will do today.

House rules on punishment range from a reprimand, which covers what are considered to be "serious violations" to expulsion for the most serious.

Republicans and Democrats who are familiar with the House ethics procedures have said they don't believe Rangel will be censured for the rules he broke.

The report by the bipartisan, adjudicatory panel that found Rangel guilty can be found by clicking the hyperlink.

(Posted by Catalina Camia)