Senators Call for Additional Funding and Legislative Measures to Address Sexual Harassment on Capitol Hill

Washington, D.C. - December 15, 2017  (The Ponder News) -- U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), urging them to take additional steps to address sexual harassment and workplace misconduct in the United States Congress. 

“The reported accounts of misconduct on Capitol Hill necessitate a review of our workplace culture and processes to ensure that equality and justice prevail throughout,” Senators Collins and Murray wrote.

Senators Collins and Murray urged the Senate and Appropriations Committee leaders to provide additional funding to support updated and improved sexual harassment training for legislative branch employees.  They also urged the inclusion of legislative measures to improve the ways that congressional offices respond to both the causes and consequences of these incidents.

“On November 9, the Senate passed unanimously a resolution requiring Senators, staff, interns, fellows, and detailees to participate in workplace harassment training, including sexual harassment,” Senators Collins and Murray continued.  “This is a welcome first step to reforming the culture on Capitol Hill. It also invites an opportunity to invest in necessary improvements to training modules and to hire staff with expertise in workplace harassment and worker-advocate support. We request that you include sufficient funding to the Office of Compliance (OOC) and other appropriate Senate offices to improve these trainings and supports.”

Senators Collins and Murray also urged Leadership to take additional steps to fully address issues of harassment and misconduct, including implementing, at a minimum, the following common sense reforms that have support on both sides of the aisle:

Covering every member of the Congressional community (staff, fellows, interns, pages, and detailees) by the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) and fully informing them about what their rights, protections, and the available procedures are. 

Providing employees who experience harassment with access to independent confidential resources to advise and assist them through the complaint resolution process; and

Reforming the complaint resolution process so that arbitrary time limits and mandatory processes do not discourage reporting.
 

The complete text of the letter is available HERE