Congress running out of time to act on #MeToo slut legislation

[Rob Woodward]

WASHINGTON — Nearly a year after the #metoo movement gripped the
nation, Congress still hasn’t acted on charges by sexual harassment
victims that its current procedures protect abusers from
accountability.

After a wave of seedy congressmen were exposed, the House passed a
bill in February and the Senate followed in May to overhaul the system
for congressional staffers to report abuse in the workplace.

But the GOP leadership didn’t convene a conference committee to
formally hammer out the differences between the House and Senate.

Negotiators have been working behind the scenes, still without final
agreement on how to proceed.

“We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of #metoo going viral and
what will Congress have to show for it?” asked Maya Raghu, director of
Workplace Equality and Senior Counsel at the National Women’s Law
Center. “And what will they say to the legislative workforce who
deserve to work with dignity and respect and safety?”

Time is running out for Congress to act. With limited legislative days
left in the year, if a final bill isn’t passed by January, the new
Congress will have to start again.

Rep. Joe Crowley warned Wednesday failure is possible.

“It wouldn’t be remarkable to me if we won’t pass something, quite
frankly, given the state of dysfunctionality that exists here in
Washington right now,” Crowley (D-NY) said. “But I think the American
people expect that the government do something about this issue. It’s
been talked about for almost a year now. And it’s been really
remarkable the slow progress that has been made…We should have the
platinum standard for the country.”

Leaders from the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules
Committee have been meeting for months to address the differences in
the bills. Two aides briefed on the talks said one sticking point is
how personally liable a lawmaker should be for his or her mistakes.

Both bills aim to end secret taxpayer-funded sexual harassment
settlements to victims. But one key difference is the Senate bill
requires lawmakers to reimburse the US Treasury only for harassment
settlements, not sex discrimination or other discrimination claims,
which can outnumber harassment claims, critics say.

“The House has a really strong bill and we’re continuing to push to
maintain our version of the bill because it’s stronger accountability,
zero tolerance and no more secret settlements or anything like that,”
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said Wednesday. “So we’re trying to push
the Senate to adopt more of our provisions (with) more
accountability.”

Comstock is optimistic the differences can be hashed out and floor
votes on a final version could happen as soon as “this month.”

Meantime, Comstock noted that the House was able to unilaterally
change rules within its chamber to mandate sexual harassment training
and to ban lawmakers from sleeping with subordinates.

Both the House and Senate bills eliminate the mandatory counseling and
cooling off periods that made victims wait months before moving
forward with a complaint. The Senate bill, by default, handles
complaints through mediation, but parties can opt-out within 10 days.
The House bill makes mediation optional and also offer legal counsel
to victims.
Records show that nearly $300,000 in taxpayer dollars were spent
between 2003 and 2007 to settle 13 claims of sexual harassment or sex
discrimination against members of Congress or their offices.

The taxpayer funded bailouts included $84,000 to a former staffer to
Rep. Blake Farenthold in a sexual harassment settlement. The Texas
Republican resigned in April.

Nine members of Congress were forced out of office in the #metoo era,
including Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Tim
Murphy (R-Penn.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.).

Both the House and Senate bills would require surveys of employees to
measure confidentially incidents of sexual harassment and
discrimination.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been calling for an end to the
antiquated reporting system and is frustrated with the slow pace of
change.

“Both bills to reform the way Congress handles sexual harassment
complaints passed out of the Senate and House with unanimous support.
There’s no reason why this legislation shouldn’t be conferenced.
Congress continues to drag its feet and it’s unacceptable,” she said.

https://nypost.com/2018/09/12/time-running-out-for-congress-to-act-on-metoo-legislation/