The U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, on behalf of Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (R-Minn.), and the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, on behalf of Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), today released information provided by the Office of Compliance (OOC) regarding the statistical breakdown of awards and settlements involving Senate employing offices from 1997-2017.
“Harassment in the workplace should not be tolerated under any circumstances, but particularly not in the United States Senate,” said Chairman Shelby of the Senate Rules Committee. “While the Rules Committee has been eager to provide this information in a transparent manner, it has been our priority to protect the victims involved in these settlements from further harm. I am pleased that we have received assurances from Senate Legal Counsel that the release of this data does not violate confidentiality and as such, are able to make it public.”
“Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. The Senate should hold itself to the highest standards of professionalism and respect,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Cochran.
The Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee consulted extensively with Senate Legal Counsel prior to this release to ensure it complied with the confidentiality protections governing these agreements and was sufficiently protective of the victims in these cases. The Committees received assurances from Senate Legal Counsel that the release of this information in no way implicates confidentiality concerns. It should be noted that the Senate – unlike the House – does not have its own records of individual settlements and therefore cannot independently verify the accuracy of the data provided by the OOC.
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