The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) provided no information on whether it has undisclosed information regarding taxpayer funds used to pay out lawmakersâ sexual misconduct settlements.
The House passed Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massieâs resolution on June 30 that directed the OCWR and House Ethics Committee to release a list of congressional members subject to sexual misconduct investigations and disclose cases that resulted in taxpayer-funded monetary settlements. The OCWR told the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday it will fully comply with the resolution, though they refused to provide further comment.
âWe fully intend to comply with the provisions of H. Res. 1399 within 60 days of passage, as directed by the resolution. We will have no further comment until then,â the OCWR told the DCNF.
From Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 12, 2018, the OCWR approved 349 awards or settlements âto resolve complaints against legislative branch offices,â its general counsel told Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in a letter, according to CNN. Eighty of those cases were settled by a House or Senate office.
The payments used taxpayer money from a Treasury account that no longer exists as an option for lawmakers, CNN reported.
The resolution directed the Ethics Committee and OCWR to provide âthe total amount of taxpayer funds included in all settlements, payments, reimbursements, awards, or other financial considerations paid in connectionâ to these sexual misconduct investigations. Before its passage, Massie said the resolution was about transparency.
âI would urge my colleagues to vote for this in the interest of transparency and openness,â Massie said. âWe need to know whatâs been going on here in the House of Representatives in order to convince the people and ensure the people that we are conducting the peopleâs business with the utmost integrity and treating the officers and the employees of this institution with the respect that they deserve.â
The resolution passed in a 420-0 vote, with Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace voting âpresent.â Mace told CNN the measure was no different from her subpoena in May that compelled the OCWR to turn over information to Congress.
âI already did this,â Mace said. âI subpoenaed the files in oversight in March and released them in May. Itâs already been done.â
The Ethics Committee released a list in April of all publicly disclosed matters regarding sexual misconduct investigations, listing 28 instances in total. The disclosure followed the resignations of Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales after they faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
The committee told Politico Thursday it had not been notified of any âawards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member,â arguing the OCWR was responsible for releasing that type of information. House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest said while the information they released was already public, he would support Massieâs resolution, according to Politico.
The Ethics Committee and Massieâs office did not respond to the DCNFâs multiple requests for comment.
The released documents revealed taxpayers paid over half a million dollars in confidential congressional sexual harassment settlements dating back decades, though Massie believed information was missing.
Massie and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna led the effort to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release files surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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