It seems like Congress always depends on the taxpayers for things we never get at our jobs. We recently found out that one of those things was the settlement of sexual harassment claims.
That amounts to 17 million dollars, covering 260 charges against members of Congress. Embarrassed beyond words and seeking to put the issue to bed without naming those on whose behalf the victims were paid. Not all of the 260 complaints are for sexual harassment. Some involved sexism, racism, and assorted other complaints.
Congress will not name names of offenders or even how many of the suits were or even the break down of the categories of offenses.
Democrats who are hoping that President Donald Trump will face harsh repercussions for paying settlements to women who allege relationships with him passed legislation on Thursday that requires them to make payments for sexual harassment with their own money.
Current law addressing sexual misconduct that was put in place in 1995 — ironically when Bill Clinton was in the White House — requires an accuser to get counseling, wait 30 days, and allowed accused lawmakers to use a slush fund of taxpayer money to pay off their accusers.
The Huffington Post reported:
Part of the reason it took Congress all year to get this done is because the House wanted tougher punishments and more transparency when lawmakers sexually harass or discriminate against staff, while Senate Republicans, for some reason, insisted on watering down those provisions.
House lawmakers, for example, wanted to make members of Congress pay out of pocket for discrimination settlements too and wanted to provide legal representation to all accusers. But the Senate, which finally caved on requiring lawmakers to pay out of pocket for sexual harassment settlements, rejected both of those provisions and neither ended up in the final bill.