Top senators crafting plan to strengthen sexual harassment protections

Top senators crafting plan to strengthen sexual harassment protections
Two GOP senators are working with a senior Democrat on a bipartisan proposal to update the chamber's sexual harassment policy, with buy-in from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The resolution is being crafted by both parties' leaders on the Senate Rules Committee and would go beyond requiring sexual harassment training, which a bipartisan group of senators proposed earlier this week, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Wednesday. Capito, a member of the Rules panel, is working on the harassment measure with committee chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and top Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. The forthcoming harassment resolution "has a lot of the elements" in the training measure that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced, while also touching on "some of the protocols, some of the measures that should move forward if you have an issue with sexual harassment," Capito said in an interview. "It goes a little further but it's a little tighter in terms of how the rules would change to meet the demands of where we are now," Capito added. Negotiators are aiming to win the support of all Rules Committee members, she said, and McConnell "is fully on board." Shelby said in an interview that he and the majority leader thought tapping Klobuchar and Capito to take a leading role on harassment legislation, as two female senators from both sides of the aisle, would provide valuable perspective. Klobuchar is expected to take the lead on the legislation when it's formally introduced, Senate sources said. Calls for reform of the system for handling congressional harassment complaints have grown as current and former female lawmakers as well as aides share their stories of workplace harassment while serving on Capitol Hill. Current rules require victims of alleged harassment on the Hill to undergo mandatory counseling and mediation before filing a complaint — a waiting period that can last months and, critics say, deter congressional employees from reporting problems in their offices. A letter organized by former congressional aides urging House and Senate leaders in both parties to revamp sexual harassment policy has attracted more than 1,000 signatures as of late Wednesday.

November 9, 2017 at 08:44AM