Republican lawmakers in the House are pushing ahead with a bill to undo the law shielding the identities of lawmakers accused of sex harassment and put an end to taxpayer-funded payouts, the Washington Examiner is reporting.
"My goal is that we would have all this resolved and have a markup at the end of January," House Administration Committee Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., told the website.
The action would reform the Congressional Accountability Act — the 1995 law governing the way Congress handles sexual harassment claims.
Congress has been criticized after it was learned tens of thousands of dollars in federal money were used to pay those making sexual harassment claims against lawmakers, the Examiner reported. The existing law shields the identities of those accused.
Harper said the panel has been "tearing apart" the law in an effort to find ways to improve transparency and responsiveness.
"I don't know that we can do anything about what happened previously, but we can do something about going forward," Harper said. "Everybody is very concerned about taxpayer funding being used to settle any type of sexual harassment claim.
"One of our goals here is to make sure the changes we make in this process are not going to make it more difficult for the victims. I have concerns. There is a way to get this right and we are going to get that."
Meanwhile, the House recently amended its own rules and is requiring workplace harassment training for members and staff in each session of Congress, ABC News reported.
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