Taxpayers shelled out more than $338,000 to quietly resolve sexual harassment complaints tied to House members or their offices between 2004 and 2017, according to data obtained by the House Oversight Committee. The figure, disclosed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace and confirmed by a person familiar with the records, is roughly double what lawmakers were told during a previous review in 2017, reports Politico. The payouts came through a now-defunct system that allowed federal funds to be used to settle sexual misconduct claims involving members of Congress.
Mace released a list of implicated offices, including those of former Reps. Eric Massa, John Conyers, Blake Farenthold, Patrick Meehan, Carolyn McCarthy, and Rodney Alexander, a mix of Republicans and Democrats. Some settlements had been known—such as Farenthold's $84,000 and Meehan's $39,000—but others, including additional payments linked to Massa and Conyers, hadn't. CNN notes that, in its own review of contracts tied to these settlements, it found the accused generally didn't admit to wrongdoing but agreed to the settlements to "avoid the inconvenience of protracted litigation and the expense to the parties and the taxpayers of such litigation," as one contract was worded.
The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights said it gave the green light to 80 awards or settlements, out of nearly 350 complaints, involving congressional offices from 1996 to 2018, with 30 cases directly involving House members' alleged misconduct or knowledge of it. Congress barred the use of federal funds for such settlements in 2018. Mace now says she'll release the records once victims' identities are fully redacted, writing, "Accountability is not a threat. It is a promise." Mace has previously warned that she wants to see an "avalanche of resignations" over the matter, per Fox News.
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