Legislative Update: Congress Punts on Full Transparency for Sexual Harassment Claims
By Doreen DennyDecember 21, 2018
You know it’s a lame duck Congress when action on bills that members have been trying to avoid but have no excuse left not to deal with finally get passed. Then they hold a press conference and pat themselves on the back. I admit such cynicism might not be welcome during the Christmas season, so let’s give some credit to a Congress that managed to enact something so bipartisan that no roll call vote was necessary. The departing 115thCongress can now breathe a sigh of relief for having dealt with updating their procedures for handling workplace sexual harassment issues on their own turf in the #MeToo era.
Earlier this year, Concerned Women for America mailed thousands of petitions to Capitol Hill, asking leaders to step up and hold members accountable who had settled harassment claims in secret using a federal “hush fund†paid for by the American taxpayer. Constituents were kept in the dark about such claims, and cases were settled behind closed doors. The fact that elected officials and senior staffers were engaging in such conduct — with at least $15 million paid out over 20 years — rightfully raised alarm bells and discredited prevailing congressional accountability rules as outdated and ineffective.
https://concernedwomen.org/legislative-update-congress-punts-on-full-transparency-for-sexual-harassment-claims/
