Thread by @EricColumbus

A quick thread on how Congress handles sexual harassment allegations. 1/

Some folks are outraged to learn that Congress spends taxpayer money for secret settlements, But this isn’t unique to Congress -- it’s standard practice in the federal government. 2/

Here’s the confidentiality clause in a sample EEOC settlement agreement. 3/
eeoc.gov/federal/adr/fs…

Whether this is a good idea is a complicated issue. For one thing, transparency reduces victims’ bargaining power. 4/

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But there’s no reason Congress can’t provide more information than it does now. Its annual report on settlements lumps together the entire legislative branch. 5/
compliance.gov/sites/default/…

We don’t know how much $$ was paid out by the House and the Senate as opposed to, say, the Library of Congress, the Capitol Police, the General Accountability Office, etc. 6/

Nor do we know whether the allegations involved discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, or unrelated issues such as wage and hour laws. 7/

By contrast, the executive branch breaks it down by agency, providing aggregate stats on the number of claims, their resolution, and the most common bases for claims. 8/
eeoc.gov/federal/report…

There’s no reason Congress can’t do this – at the very least, break down the report to provide aggregate stats on the number, type, outcome of claims against the House, against the Senate, etc. 9/

There are substantive concerns with the complaint process as well, as discussed (among much else) in this excellent @cjane87 piece. 10/
vox.com/policy-and-pol…

Keep in mind that – as astounding as it sounds – Congress exempted itself from civil rights laws until 1995. 11/

A key part of Newt Gingrich's Contract with America was to make Congress play by the same rules as the rest of us. The Congressional Accountability Act was the first bill the new Congress passed after the sweeping GOP victory in the 1994 midterms. 12/

We're having another accountability moment. If I were Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell, I’d try to improve the system now, so that enterprising challengers don’t use it against the GOP next year. 13/end