[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WORKPLACE HARASSMENT LEGISLATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. First, Mr. President, on an important piece of 
internal business, workplace harassment is unacceptable anywhere--end 
of story. The U.S. Congress is certainly no exception. Here, as 
everywhere, employees must be free to work without fearing that they 
will be the victims of harassment.
  So a consensus emerged among Members in both the House and the Senate 
that we should do more to hold people accountable, protect staff, and 
help to prevent harassment in the first place. That is exactly what 
will happen under the proposal that our colleagues Senator Blunt and 
Senator Klobuchar have developed.
  These colleagues of ours deserve big thanks. Their thorough, 
bipartisan collaboration has produced an impressive and comprehensive 
proposal to reform how Congress handles claims of violations of Federal 
workplace laws, particularly, instances of harassment. It will help 
this institution take an important step forward.
  Their proposed reform achieves many of the important goals that 
Members of both parties have put forward in recent months. There was 
widespread consensus that Members of Congress should reimburse 
taxpayers for the cost of claims or settlements. This reform achieves 
that and more. It requires Members to pay for any harassment claims, 
for any protected class, where the Member has personally engaged in 
misconduct.
  We sought to eliminate obstacles that made it more difficult for 
employees to file claims. This reform achieves that. It eliminates the 
mandatory counseling, the mandatory mediation, and the mandatory 
cooling-off period that current law requires employees to go through 
before filing a claim of a workplace violation.
  We wanted to ensure disclosure when there are settlements or awards 
for instances of sexual harassment. This reform achieves that and more. 
It mandates that every instance where a Member is found to have 
personally committed any type of harassment be publicly reported.
  This is an entirely appropriate package of reforms that every Member 
of this body should be able to support. It builds on the foundation 
laid by Senator Grassley's landmark Congressional Accountability Act 
back in 1995.
  Our friend from Iowa led the way in making sure that Congress had to 
live by the workplace laws that it required of others, and it builds on 
other important steps this institution has recently taken, such as 
updating and strengthening the anti-harassment training that all Senate 
employees must complete.
  Here is what all this adds up to: a clearer, easier, and more timely 
process for those who seek to file harassment claims and greater 
personal accountability and transparency in the event that misconduct 
occurs.
  The Democratic leader and I are grateful to Senator Blunt and Senator 
Klobuchar for their hard work in assembling this proposal. It has our 
enthusiastic support.

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