Senate’s female members push for harassment vote

The letter was spearheaded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

The Senate's 22 female members joined together Wednesday in a bipartisan push for their leaders to overhaul its workplace misconduct rules, airing "deep disappointment" that the chamber hasn't already moved.

The House approved its own revamp of Congress' system for handling harassment and discrimination on the job last month, and negotiators in both parties had come close to attaching a bipartisan, bicameral deal to the government spending package that President Donald Trump signed last week. But that momentum fizzled last week amid a dispute over whether to keep House-passed language holding lawmakers personally liable for discrimination settlements tied to their behavior, as well as harassment claims.

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As a result of the impasse, House-passed changes to Capitol Hill's office misconduct rules remain in limbo, awaiting Senate action. And all 22 female senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, warned on Wednesday that the upper chamber's "inaction stands in stark contrast to the bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives."

"Survivors who have bravely come forward to share their stories have brought to light just how widespread harassment and discrimination continue to be throughout Capitol Hill," the female senators wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

"No longer can we allow the perpetrators of these crimes to hide behind a 23-year-old law," the 22 senators continued, referring to the 1995 statute that established the Hill's current framework for handling workplace misconduct complaints.

The letter was spearheaded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who had led talks on the issue as top Democrat on the Rules Committee; Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democratic leader; and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), author of a popular bipartisan bill beefing up the Hill's harassment safeguards.

House Republican leaders worked alongside Democrats to craft the bipartisan Hill harassment legislation that passed last month, a rare case of successful cross-aisle negotiations helped along by a wave of sexual misconduct scandals last year that prematurely ended the careers of a half-dozen lawmakers in both parties.

But the Senate's work moved more slowly, and House sources pointed a finger at upper-chamber leaders' reluctance to force lawmakers to pay up for discrimination settlements as a leading factor in the stalling of talks on attaching harassment reform to the $1.3 trillion government spending measure.

"Sen. McConnell supports members being personally, financially liable for sexual misconduct in which they have engaged," spokesman David Popp said by email.

Senate Democrats said last week that their caucus was not opposed to leaving intact the stronger, House-passed language on liability for discrimination claims.

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"We strongly agree that the Senate should quickly take up legislation to combat sexual harassment on Capitol Hill," Schumer said in a statement.

Among the marquee provisions of the House-passed bill — aside from a requirement that lawmakers personally pay the cost of harassment or discrimination claims connected to their behavior — are the elimination of mandatory counseling and mediation for victims alleging harassment and public reporting on the total cost to taxpayers of settling office misconduct claims on Capitol Hill.

The House already has approved changes to its own rules that create an Office of Employee Advocacy to represent harassment victims in the chamber, a response to last year's bipartisan outcry over a current system that provides ample protections for alleged perpetrators. The Senate's failure to follow suit creates "an inequity," as the female senators put it in their Wednesday letter.

"Senate staff who face similar harassment or discrimination must pay personally for legal representation or represent themselves through complicated legal proceedings" while House employees are afforded "access to free legal representation," the senators wrote.

Their letter also requests floor time on the issue, asking McConnell and Schumer to "bring before the full Senate legislation that would update and strengthen the procedures available to survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination in congressional workplaces." How soon the Senate will act, however, remains to be seen.

Popp noted that Senate Rules Committee members in both parties are "continuing to work on legislation. I don't yet have a prediction on when that will be completed."

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