{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/editorial-congress-must-cleanse-itself-save-itself", "EDITORIAL: Congress must cleanse itself to save itself", "2017-12-04", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Brian Fitzpatrick", "F000466", "fitzpatrick.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "There may be no institution more disliked and distrusted by the American people than the U.S. Congress. By its actions and inaction it has earned an awful popularity rating \u2014 which it re-enforces almost daily.\nNot so sure about your own opinion? Here\u2019s an outrage recently uncovered by the Washington Post that might affect your thinking, and it\u2019s just one among many: Congress\u2019 Office of Compliance has paid out over the last 20 years $17.2 million to settle a shocking 264 complaints of sexual harassment and other Capitol Hill workplace violations by members of Congress and staff.\nThis was public money, used as hush money, to keep the bad behavior secret.\nIt worked until the lid was blown off the issue of sexual harassment by the recent and continuing series of disclosures that has outed as sexual harassers and abusers a shameful parade of powerful men \u2014 entertainers, media giants, and powerful politicians among them.\nThis isn\u2019t new news. We addressed the issue in this space a few days ago following a statement from the non-partisan government watchdog group Common Cause. In a news release and accompanying letter to members of Congress, the public interest organization called on members to pass legislation closing loopholes and disclosing settlements that have \u201callowed members to hide sexual harassment and other abuses for decades.\u201d\nThe measures sought by Common Cause are both sensible and necessary: a prohibition on congressional offices from using any \u201chush fund\u201d to pay for sexual harassment settlements. \u201cThe American public deserves to know that their hard-earned tax dollars are not being used to protect sexual harassers,\u201d Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn wrote in a letter to members of Congress.\nTo that end, we called on our own Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick to accept the challenge much as he did on his very first day in office when he introduced an array of government reform measures, some of which targeted congressional excesses and abuses. We are pleased to note and also proud that the congressman has risen to the challenge.\nIntroduced Thursday with Fitzpatrick as an original cosponsor, the Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act would bar the use of public money to settle sexual harassment or assault claims; disclose all such previous settlements; require assaulters and harassers to reimburse taxpayers with interest; prohibit non-disclosure agreements as a precondition to address a claim; and allow victims to make public statements about their claim.\nWe\u2019re not lawyers, but the legislation seems comprehensive and appears to address all the issues raised by Common Cause. It gets our vote and should get the vote of every member of Congress.\nBut this isn\u2019t the only legislative effort Fitzpatrick is supporting, just the most important. He also backs another new bill, the Settlement Tax Deductions are Over for Predators Act (STOP), which eliminates as business deductions legal settlements related to sexual assault and harassment.\nThe congressman also is a cosponsor of the ME TOO Congress Act, which sets criteria to address sexual harassment in all congressional branch offices. And he supports legislation requiring all members of the House and their staff to complete sexual harassment prevention and response training. Finally, Fitzpatrick is leading a bipartisan effort calling for an investigation into the misuse of taxpayer dollars for sexual misconduct settlements.\nCalling the settlements \u201cunbelievable\u201d and \u201cunacceptable,\u201d Fitzpatrick said Congress \u201cmust stand with the victims of this harassment and take swift action to root out those who should sexually harass any other person, regardless of position or title.\u201d\nIf every member of Congress were of the same mind, perhaps this long-tainted institution might begin to change public perception.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/editorial-congress-must-cleanse-itself-save-itself"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.174289897084236, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}