The House and Senate are going to have to negotiate to pass a measure they wrote to police themselves.
The House is all but dismissing a bill senators passed unanimously last week that would for the first time hold lawmakers financially responsible for harassment settlements that now come out of the Treasury.
The Senate passed its bill by voice vote, signaling strong support from every lawmaker in the chamber and prompting a rare joint statement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“This is an important and meaningful reform, and the result of a broad bipartisan consensus that we should do more to hold people accountable, protect staff, and help prevent harassment in the first place,” McConnell and Schumer said.
But almost immediately, House lawmakers were scoffing at the bill as one that would not go nearly far enough to hold senators accountable for bad behavior.
“From what we’ve reviewed so far, we continue to believe the House version is a stronger bill in terms of adjudication process and protection of victims and rights of all parties,” Democrats on the House Administration Committee said on Twitter. “We appreciate their efforts, and look forward to working with the Senate.”
House lawmakers believe their bill, the ME TOO Congress Act, which they passed in February, holds lawmakers accountable more than the Senate version.
The House bill, for example, would require lawmakers to pay for settlements resulting from discrimination. The Senate version covers harassment only and provides language that would make it easier to escape a harassment accusation.
The Senate bill leaves out a provision that would allow an accuser in a harassment case to obtain a lawyer paid by his or her employer.
It also gives the notoriously soft Senate Ethics Committee, which rarely metes out serious punishment to senators, the final say over whether lawmakers will have to pay back the Treasury for a settlement.
The House bill does not permit self-policing. It would require lawmakers to pay back any settlements granted by the federal Office of Compliance within 90 days or else face wage garnishment.
There are similarities in the two bills. Both eliminate the series of mandatory waiting periods accusers must comply with before moving forward with a complaint, for example.
Republican leaders are reviewing the Senate bill. But Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested Democrats want the provisions in the House measure to prevail.
“Given the substantive differences between the two bills, the House and the Senate must now go to conference to produce a strong, final version that provides greater transparency and accountability, and fosters a climate of respect and dignity in the Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Lawmakers in both chambers worked quickly to produce harassment legislation following a string of scandals involving male House lawmakers whose actions resulted in settlements to female employees over harassment complaints. The settlements were paid from the Treasury or from congressional office funds.
In one instance, Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, was found responsible for harassing a female employee. The $84,000 settlement was paid from the Treasury. Farenthold, who resigned, said he would pay back the money but has since changed his mind.
The House Ethics Committee issued a statement after the Senate measure passed, urging a final bill to include some changes to reflect the House bill, including a provision requiring lawmakers to pay back the Treasury for settlement claims even if they leave office.
The National Women’s Law Center, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Equal Pay Today, Public Citizen, and the ACLU sent a letter to Senate leaders urging them to take up the House-passed bill.
“Members of Congress should be held accountable for their discriminatory conduct, but instead this bill appears to provide numerous opportunities to evade responsibility, while also failing to offer Senate professional staff the same kind of legal counsel and support that members of Congress receive,” the letter said.
