For decades Congress has quietly dealt with sexual harassment and discrimination claims in secret, using taxpayers’ money to settle complaints.

And while powerful men across the film industry and US media are facing a reckoning over years of widespread sexual harassment, the pinnacle of American politics is taking its time to deal openly with a wave of allegations.

The House of Representatives voted unanimously on Wednesday in favor of a resolution requiring all members and staff to undergo mandatory anti-sexual harassment and anti-discrimination training.

“Sexual harassment has no place in any workforce, let alone in Congress,” the House speaker, Paul Ryan, told reporters earlier in the day.



“We cannot and we will not tolerate that kind of behavior.”

But in the tribal atmosphere of Washington, politicians seem to be struggling to maintain principled positions and put party loyalties to one side.

At least two sitting lawmakers, Senator Al Franken and representative John Conyers, both Democrats, stand accused of inappropriate behavior. And a succession of women have alleged that Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, assaulted them or initiated sexual encounters when they were teenagers.

The Senate unanimously approved a measure earlier this month that implemented mandatory sexual harassment training for senators and aides.

But proponents of further reforms have set their sights on the secretive manner in which sexual harassment claims are handled in Washington.

Over the past two decades, Congress’s Office of Compliance has overseen sexual harassment and discrimination claims that resulted in more than $17m in taxpayer-funded settlements and awards to federal employees. According to data released by the office this month, a total of 268 settlements were reached between 1997 and 2017.

The money has come from a special fund within the US Treasury to handle such claims, putting the burden on taxpayers as opposed to the accused members themselves. Victims have also typically been bound to confidentiality agreements as part of the settlements, thus prohibiting them from sharing their accounts publicly.

The issue was illuminated by a BuzzFeed investigation that first disclosed the allegations against Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan. In Conyers’ case, a settlement of $27,000 was reached with a former employee who claimed she was fired after refusing the congressman’s sexual advances. According to leaked records, the woman was rehired by Conyers’ office as a temporary employee so that the settlement money could be made through what appeared as ordinary payroll.

Conyers has maintained his innocence, even as a second woman accused him of misconduct in an on-the-record interview. On Sunday, Conyers stepped aside from his role as the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee and said he would cooperate with an investigation led by the House ethics committee.

Franken has also vowed to work with ethics investigators in the Senate after multiple women alleged he grabbed their buttocks while posing for photos. Those allegations came after broadcaster Leann Tweeden claimed Franken forcibly kissed her while the two were rehearsing for a skit during a 2006 tour to entertain US troops. Tweeden also released a photo in which Franken, a former comedian who at the time was not yet an elected official, appeared to place his hands over her breasts while she slept.

Franken has apologized to Tweeden and his other accusers, although he has maintained he does not recall touching any of the women inappropriately. The senator also said while he was “ashamed” of the photo in which he appeared to grope Tweeden, he did not recall the kiss in the way she described.

The focus on sexual misconduct has prompted women on Capitol Hill to suggest an atmosphere where harassment is “rampant”.

Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, introduced a bill alongside Senator Kirsten Gillibrand earlier this month that would overhaul the process for handling sexual harassment cases.

Speier alluded to more allegations that are yet to come against members of both parties. The legislation she is proposing with Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who has long been outspoken on the need to combat sexual harassment, would impose more transparency on the process for reporting and settling cases.

It would no longer require that accusers be subject to mandatory counseling and mediation. It would also prohibit nondisclosure agreements as a condition of initiating a complaint, and ensure that a member of Congress who settles a claim as the harasser repay the Treasury department for the amount of the award or settlement.

Senator Al Franken: ‘ashamed’. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

It remains unclear if and when the proposal will come up for a vote in the House or Senate. The complaint process will be examined in a 7 December hearing in the committee on house administration.



A House leadership aide pointed to Wednesday’s vote on mandatory training as a “first step” in addressing the issue, while noting additional reforms could follow after the December hearing.



Congressional leaders have said the desire to combat sexual harassment is decidedly bipartisan. But the flurry of allegations have created undeniable political ramifications for both parties.

Republicans have been vocal in their calls on Moore to step aside in the Alabama Senate race and even threatened to expel him from the Senate should he emerge victorious in the December special election. But they have been stymied by Donald Trump’s decision to endorse Moore, pitting the president once more against members of his own party.

Republican lawmakers have also been unable to explain why they have taken seriously the allegations against Moore, while largely ignoring the fact that Trump has been accused by numerous women of sexual assault.

Democrats were hit by their own set of pressures when the first sitting lawmakers accused of misconduct in the so-called “post-Harvey Weinstein era” proved to be their own. While most Senate Democrats have condemned Franken’s behavior, some of their colleagues in the House have stumbled over the allegations against Conyers.

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, was widely criticized on Sunday for refusing to say in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press if she believed Conyers’ accusers.

“We are strengthened by due process,” Pelosi said, while dubbing Conyers an “icon in our country”.

With millions watching at home, Pelosi appeared to question the credibility of the allegations and in turn was accused of hypocrisy for seeming far more focused on protecting Conyers than standing up for his accusers.

“Was it one accusation? Was it two?” Pelosi said, before adding of Conyers: “He has done a great deal to protect women … I believe he will do the right thing.”

Nancy Pelosi’s response to claims about Represenative John Conyers in a TV interview was widely criticised. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

It seemed an especially jarring moment for Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House and a leading proponent of women’s rights.



Recognizing the damage her appearance had caused, Pelosi quickly clarified in a statement: “No matter how great an individual’s legacy, it is not a license for harassment.”

The House Democratic leader also met on Monday with Melanie Sloane, one of the women who accused Conyers of misconduct, and said she believed the former staffer’s account.

For Congress, the debate over the institution’s sexual harassment policies comes at a time when lawmakers have a mounting list of priorities to resolve before the Christmas holidays. Lawmakers are battling a mid-December deadline to prevent a shutdown of the federal government.

Republicans are also seeking a pass a massive tax reform bill, and remain locked in a feud with Democrats over how to address the nearly 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants who were left in limbo after Trump reversed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that protected so-called “Dreamers” from deportation.



Speier hopes momentum stemming from the watershed moment over sexual misconduct will nonetheless force further action to revamp anti-harassment policies in the nation’s capital.



“Congress has been a breeding ground for a hostile work environment for far too long,” she said.