{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://messer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=712", "Messer Introduces Legislation Protecting Victims of Sexual Assault and Harassment", "2017-11-30", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "IN", "Luke Messer", "M001189", "messer.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. (Thursday, Nov.  30, 2017) \u2014 After announcing plans earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) today filed legislation to better protect victims of sexual assault and harassment in Congress.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      WASHINGTON, D.C. (Thursday, Nov.\u00a0 30, 2017) \u2014 After announcing plans earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) today filed legislation to better protect victims of sexual assault and harassment in Congress.\r\nMesser\u2019s bill would ensure victims aren\u2019t silenced by non-disclosure agreements, and prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to settle sexual harassment claims with members of Congress.\r\n\u201cMembers of Congress should not treat taxpayer dollars like a slush fund to settle sexual harassment charges, and my legislation would put a stop to it,\u201d Messer said. \u201cIt would also empower the victims who want to tell their story to come forward and do so.\u201d\r\nThe Empowering Victims of Sexual Misconduct Act would release Congressional staff from current non-disclosure agreements signed as part of a sexual assault settlement with a Member of Congress, and prohibit non-disclosure agreements like this in the future. It would also prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to settle sexual harassment claims by a member of Congress or employee of the House or Senate. Additionally, the bill would require previous settlements that were paid out with taxpayer dollars involving members of Congress to be reimbursed to the U.S. Treasury.\r\nThis effort by Messer follows recent reports that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) settled a sexual harassment complaint with a former staff member using taxpayer dollars. The Associated Press reports that the government has paid more than $17 million in taxpayer money over the last 20 years to settle sexual harassment claims and other workplace violations filed by employees of Congress.\r\nMesser spoke on the House floor Wednesday urging support for his legislation and joined Fox News\u2019 Dana Perino this week to discuss the bill.", 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://messer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=712"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7359832525253296, "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"}