Top Republican senators and a senior Democrat are working on a bipartisan plan to change and improve Senate’s sexual harassment policy with the approval of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
According to Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the bipartisan resolution will include more than just sexual harassment training, proposed earlier this week. Capito and the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee Richard Shelby are working together with Democrat Amy Klobuchar on a sexual harassment measure which contains some of the elements proposed by Senator Chuck Grassley in the training measure.
However, Capito said on Wednesday, it additionally deals with “some of the protocols, some of the measures that should move forward if you have an issue with sexual harassment.” She added that the measure they are crafting is “a little tighter in terms of how the rules would change to meet the demands of where we are now.” Their goal is to get support from all members of the Rules Committee.
In an interview, Shelby said they were considering to select Klobuchar and Capito to take the leading roles on harassment legislation since the two female senators could offer valuable input. According to Senate sources, Klobuchar will likely take the lead on the legislation once it is introduced.
Recently there has been an increase in calls to reform the process of handling complaints of congressional harassment, particularly after some female lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill reported sexual harassment in the workplace.
Currently, victims are required to undergo obligatory counseling and mediation which usually takes several months and some say discourages congressional employees from reporting problems in their offices.
In a letter, several former aides urged Congressional leaders to review the current sexual harassment policy, receiving so far over 1,000 signatures, Politico reports.
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