“The more time that goes by without addressing this broken system, the more people suffer,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote in her letter. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Gillibrand urges Senate to take up harassment policy overhaul

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is urging her chamber’s leaders to follow the House in taking up a bipartisan overhaul of its rules for policing workplace misconduct.

The New York Democrat made a simple push on Friday, asking that her Capitol Hill harassment reform proposal get a stand-alone vote or be included in next month’s must-pass government spending bill.


“Something must be done. The House has acted, now it is time for the Senate to do its part,” Gillibrand wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The House approved its bipartisan Hill harassment legislation earlier this month after a wave of misconduct scandals last year ended the congressional careers of a half-dozen lawmakers in both parties. The House-passed legislation is not identical to Gillibrand’s proposal, which boasts support from more than two dozen senators in both parties, but its most prominent changes are aligned: an end to mandatory counseling and mediation for Hill employees alleging harassment, and a requirement that lawmakers pay up personally when found liable for harassment, rather than using taxpayer funds.

“The more time that goes by without addressing this broken system, the more people suffer,” Gillibrand wrote in her Friday letter. “Offices suffer from the lack of certainty about what is required of them. Staffers suffer when they feel as if they have no safe place to turn in the face of harassment and discrimination.”

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The House approved its harassment overhaul in two pieces — one bill that must be taken up by the Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump, and one resolution that immediately enacts changes to the chamber’s rules without requiring Senate action. Among the provisions the House crafted to take effect right away is the creation of an employee advocacy office designed to represent the interests of harassment victims while their claims are acted on.

In the Senate, members of both parties on the Rules Committee have held discussions for months on the best path forward for legislative changes to the Hill’s harassment system.

Before Gillibrand’s Friday nudge, lawmakers and aides involved in those talks have long been eyeing next month’s government spending bill — current funding for federal agencies runs out Mar. 23 — as a good vehicle for legislation on the issue.

