Hit a wall of longstanding lawmaker resistance

Congress tries again to police itself

The goal of changing Congress’ workplace culture could hit a wall of longstanding lawmaker resistance to putting the tools in place to better police themselves.

Ali Bianco

Reps. Kat Cammack and Teresa Leger Fernández are leading a bipartisan effort to fundamentally change how sexual misconduct and other bad behavior in Congress is investigated and eradicated.

But the goal of changing Congress’ workplace culture could hit a wall of longstanding lawmaker resistance to putting the tools in place to better police themselves.

The duo has been working on legislation for months to reform the Ethics Committee and streamline the process for staffers to report violations, aiming to unveil the framework in September as lawmakers return from recess.

It comes after multiple ethics violations and misconduct allegations have roiled the Hill this year.

“I am incredibly optimistic that when we get back into session that we will have a set of reforms that we can all agree on,” Leger Fernández said.

But it remains to be seen if lawmakers are prepared to make big changes that could open them up to further scrutiny amid fears the policies could stoke frivolous claims, fingerpointing and partisan witch hunts.

“Enforcement is where the difficult conversations are happening because enforcement is what makes this real. We’re working through those questions with members directly, which is how real reform gets done,” Cammack said.

Cammack added that every provision must pass the test of “does it actually hold people accountable, or does it just look like it does? Anything that can’t clear that bar isn’t reform, and I’m not interested in reform that’s just for show.”

The last major ethics overhaul happened after the #MeToo movement, with the new law holding lawmakers liable for harassment and establishing a voluntary mediation process for staffers.

But the law didn’t clear the convoluted maze of options for staffers to register their complaints, whether through the Ethics Committee, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights or the Office of Congressional Conduct. Leger Fernández said she wants their bill to establish a “one stop shop” for reporting complaints.

They’re also planning to recommend overhauling the Ethics Committee’s speed in releasing reports, prohibit all House members from having intimate relationships with any congressional staffer, not just those in their offices, and guarantee starker consequences for lawmakers.

Another hurdle: the biggest proposed changes would need buy in from the Senate. Codifying the Office of Congressional Conduct into law is among them, since the OCC currently only has authority over the House. It’s been awash with bipartisan pushback since it was created, with GOP leadership slow-walking some of its board appointments at the start of the 119th Congress.