Congress members will have to foot legal bills to settle sexual harassment claims

This is legislation passed this week that should have been passed when George Washington was checking his teeth for wood termites. Members of Congress who are accused of sexual misconduct will no longer have a slush fund to cover their legal costs but will have to pay out of their own pockets.

The final version of the bill passed Thursday, according to the Huffington Post . They said it went "sailing" through the House and Senate by unanimous consent, because if it didn't those who refused to sign would have been closely scrutinized by both legislative bodies. It will be on the president's desk for his signature by week's end.

“Time is finally up for members of Congress who think that they can sexually harass and get away with it. They will no longer be able to slink away with no one knowing that they have harassed. ...They will pay back the U.S. Treasury,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), one of the main sponsors of the bill told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters.


The bill was being considered for quite a while Speier pointed out in her speech: 

“We want to thank 1,500 former staff members of Congress who wrote a letter to us who made the case all too clear, that sexual harassment in Congress was a huge problem."

You can see how slow the U.S. legislature moves when you consider that Speier and a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders began drafting the bill last year. 

When the "#MeToo" movement went viral across social media, a slew of powerful men in Hollywood, the media, and even in the Federal government, our politicians knew they had to get rid of the taxpayer-funded slush fund politicians were using to cover their legal costs. 

Both Sen. Al "Frogface" Franken (D-MN) and Rep. Blake "The Other Pajama Boy" Farenthold (R-TX) resigned their positions in Congress after past indiscretions came to light in late 2017 and early 2018.

Farenthold spent more than $84,000 in Federal slush fund money defending himself against a suit brought by a former legislative director who claimed the then-Congressman used inappropriate, sexually charged language in an interaction. Another aide also claimed Farenthold created an unsafe work environment through his sexualized language and foul exploits.


HuffPo reports that the bill goes further than merely limiting cash flow, reforming a grievance reporting system mired in the 1990s: 

"Under the current law, which has been in place since 1995, Capitol Hill staffers who claim they’ve been harassed or discriminated against have to undergo counseling, mandatory arbitration and a 30-day 'cooling off' period before going to court. They won’t have to do any of that anymore."

The bill doesn't accomplish everything Speier set out to do, such as castrate all white male lawmakers in the GOP who are found guilty, but she's hoping it will eventually make its way into the bill in the future when Democrats take over the House.

Also, the law isn't retroactive, like the texting tax Speier's state of California is hoping to impose on residents with cell phones.

The provisions in the bill are limited to sexual harassment claims and sexual misconduct claims only. The bill doesn't cover claims of discrimination, even if those claims are sexual in nature.

 The bill also doesn't provide representation to alleged victims free of charge. Why should it when there are people such as Christine Blasey Ford and Julie Swetnick who make uncorroborated accusations?

There's still a presumption of innocence for the accused so both parties need to start out on equal footing.

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