The House will pass a resolution Wednesday that will require lawmakers to undergo sexual harassment training, making the first move in Congress to deal with a wave of sexual misconduct allegations that started in Hollywood but quickly found its way to Washington.
The resolution from Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., would require all House lawmakers, officers and staff to undergo an anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training program during each session of Congress.
It’s expected to pass easily, if not unanimously, and Republicans have put it on the fast track for passage under a rule that speeds up debate, and requires a two-thirds majority for passage.
“Recent cases of sexual harassment both within Congress, and outside in other industries, make clear that we need increased efforts to provide zero tolerance for any form of sexual harassment in Congress,” Comstock said of her resolution, which is backed by members of both parties.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., is a co-sponsor of Comstock’s language, even though it doesn’t go nearly as far as her own bill that would completely overhaul the way sexual harassment claims are investigated and settled in Congress. Republicans so far haven’t given any indication that they are willing to consider her bill.
The House follows a Senate vote from early November that will require lawmakers and staff in the upper chamber to undergo training as well. Because the resolutions deal with the conduct of members and staff in each chamber, they don’t need to be sent to the White House for President Trump’s signature.
The votes are part of the fallout of sexual harassment allegations that have hit lawmakers from both parties, as well as candidates like Roy Moore, who is running for the Senate and has been accused of sexual misconduct with underage teen girls.
Among current members, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has been accused of groping several women and making unwanted advances on his female partner during a USO tour. Franken is under growing pressure to resign his seat, but has so far said he isn’t budging, and will work to regain the trust of Minnesota voters.
In the House, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is accused of making sexual advances at female employees and walking around in front of employees in his underwear. He paid a harassment settlement to one female staffer using taxpayer-supplied office money, it was disclosed.
The Comstock resolution comes two weeks after a revealing House hearing in which female lawmakers disclosed a long and secret history of sexual misconduct committed by lawmakers. In one instance disclosed by Comstock, a lawmaker lured a young woman from his office to come to his home, where he appeared in a bathrobe and exposed himself.
Grabbing women, exposing genitals making sexual advances are part of the culture to this day, the female lawmakers said. Speier said there were two current lawmakers who have been accused of sexual harassment, but didn’t name who, and some lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation that would expose the names of the accused.
Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., said he is writing legislation that would “unseal the settlement records, bar the use of tax dollars to pay harassment claims against members and staff, prohibit members from using their office budgets to camouflage settlement payments, and require reimbursement of the taxpayer by members and staff who have had settlements paid due to their misconduct.”
The federal government has paid about $17 million to settle claims in the past two decades against the entire legislative branch for a variety of workplace violations, including sexual harassment. But the federal government’s Office of Compliance does not disclose how much of the money is spent specifically on sexual harassment claims against House or Senate lawmakers and their staff.
“The public doesn’t know which members have been involved in taxpayer-financed settlements for alleged misconduct,” DeSantis said.
Democrats have already authored legislation that both mandates harassment training and ends use of taxpayer money to settle harassment claims made against lawmakers and staff.
Speier and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., announced unveiled a bill two weeks ago that would change the way harassment is reported to make it easier and faster to file complaints. It would require the House to reveal legislative offices that pay harassment claims.
Speier and Gillibrand named their bill the Member and Employee Training and Oversight On Congress Act, or ME TOO Congress, after the #MeToo hashtag sexual harassment campaign that began when Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a sexual predator.
