For the First Time Ever, the Senate Will Now Require Sexual Harassment Training
In a moment of bipartisan unity on Thursday, the Senate voted unanimously on legislation instituting required sexual harassment training for all senators and aides.
As numerous legislators and aides have come forward to reveal their own experiences with sexual harassment—include Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D–Hawaii), Claire McCaskill (D–Miss.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D–N.D.)—demands for Congress to address how it handles these types of harassment claims grew increasingly vocal. Making the matter seem all the more urgent: the numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood as well as reports that Roy Moore, the Republican candidate in the Alabama Senate race, initiated a sexual encounter with a teenager while he was in his 30s.
“Sexual and workplace harassment is a widespread problem that affects too many women and men in too many places, professions, and industries,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the lead sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement to Politico. “Everyone deserves to feel safe and comfortable at work, and the passage of this official Senate policy is an important measure to ensure that’s the case in these halls.”
Though the bill will require sexual harassment training, as well as awareness training in regard to discrimination based on race, disability, or religion, the measure does not address how harassment complaints are filed within the legislative body. As it stands currently, individuals must undergo counseling and mediation before they can file a complaint, and over 1,000 former aides for both parties have called for more comprehensive reform.
The House has yet to pass any similar measure, but a hearing is scheduled for next week to address how sexual harassment is handled internally.