A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to form a select committee to investigate the U.S. Olympic Committee’s role in enabling decades of sexual misconduct involving USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced in January to 40-175 years in prison for sexually abusing dozens of young female gymnasts.
“This was not a simple case of negligence or failed oversight,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in a press conference Wednesday morning. As a federally-chartered institution, she said, the Senate has the responsibility to provide oversight of the Olympic Committee.
Nassar has been accused of molesting at least 265 young women and girls during the time he spent working for USA Gymnastics. The entire board of directors for USA Gymnastics resigned at the end of January after Nassar’s conviction.
“There’s clearly a culture there that needs to be changed,” Shaheen said.
The bill, sponsored by Shaheen and Sen. Joni Ernst, would require at least half of the eight-member committee to be made up of female senators. Republicans and Democrats would have equal representation on the panel. Shaheen and Ernst’s resolution sets a deadline for the special committee to report its findings by the last day of the first session of the 116th Congress—late December 2019.
Cosponsors include Republican senators Tim Scott, Thom Tillis, Johnny Isakson, and Steve Daines, and Democrats Debbie Stabenow, Kirsten Gillibrand, Maggie Hassan, Chris Van Hollen, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Ron Wyden, and Tina Smith, as well as Bernie Sanders.
Whether or not the resolution will get a vote on the Senate floor, and when such a vote could happen, is unclear.
U.S. Olympic champion Aly Raisman, who is among the athletes who was abused by Nassar, said on Twitter in January that USA Gymnastics was “100% responsible” for allowing Nassar to get away with the abuse for decades.
“We have the opportunity to do something for these women and athletes who represent our nation,” Ernst said. “We have an opportunity to stand up for the brave survivors who came forward, for our athletes, and for our children.”
