{"id":508,"date":"2026-07-07T09:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-07-07T09:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:38:08","slug":"progressive-staff-group-urges-sexual-misconduct-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"Progressive staff group urges sexual misconduct overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sweeping moves to address sexual misconduct at the Capitol may not be coming anytime soon, given the slow pace of change in Congress. But even \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d could make a difference, some staffers say.<\/p>\n

Read more Congress faces its own summer heat dome<\/a><\/p>\n

The Congressional Progressive Staff Association laid out some ideas in a letter sent to lawmakers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaff safety is crucial,\u201d reads the letter, which includes recommendations that range from creating a Senate version of the Office of Employee Advocacy to something even simpler \u2014 building \u201cawareness of existing resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost every staffer we heard from was not aware of most of these resources\u201d to report bad actors and hold them accountable, said CPSA spokesperson Michael Suchecki.<\/p>\n

His group surveyed its members in the months after two lawmakers, Reps. Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell, resigned from Congress amid misconduct allegations, sparking calls for a broader reckoning around culture on the Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to put forward a naive, progressive wish list of how we would build this process from zero. We wanted to put together an actionable list sourced from the inside,\u201d Suchecki said.<\/p>\n

The CPSA was founded in 2021 and has championed workplace overhauls that Congress has been slow to adopt over the years, like parental leave and overtime for House staffers. But the group\u2019s ideas haven\u2019t always sat well with the rest of the congressional community. A proposal from the group last January asking lawmakers to consider a 32-hour work week in their offices saw significant blowback, for example. This time, the group hopes its in-the-weeds recommendations make for easier consensus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The independent, nonpartisan Office of Congressional Conduct should get a boost, according to one of the recommendations, which urges lawmakers to codify the office and give it limited subpoena powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, the continued existence of this office is subject to biennial House rules packages, and congressional leaders have previously attempted to restrict its independence,\u201d reads the letter, which is addressed to the chairs and ranking members of the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee.<\/p>\n

Shifting more responsibility to the independent office would take some pressure off the House and Senate Ethics committees. While those panels can and do investigate wrongdoing, some observers say they are inherently flawed, since lawmakers can\u2019t be expected to truly police their own and have incentives to protect their colleagues.<\/p>\n

Read more Former House GOP tax writer Bill Archer dies at 98<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of their research, the progressive staffers reached out to the Office of Employee Advocacy, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, the Office of House Employment Counsel, the Office of Employee Assistance and the ethics panels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought there were three or four different offices or bodies that we needed to talk to to get a sense of how reporting, seeking accountability works on the Hill,\u201d Suchecki said. \u201cI called all of them, and basically they all said it\u2019s someone else\u2019s job, and I\u2019m like, OK, this is a good start.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Short of changing existing laws and processes, making staffers aware of which office does what could help \u2014 which Suchecki said is the \u201cbare minimum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group is cautiously optimistic that they\u2019ll see some results from a bipartisan partnership convened in May and led by the chairs of the Democratic and GOP women\u2019s caucuses, Reps. Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez, D-N.M., and Kat Cammack, R-Fla. The goal is to \u201cidentify reforms and solutions to make Congress a safer work environment for women and all survivors,\u201d the pair announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be deeply concerned and disappointed if the bipartisan partnership cannot at least deliver on that,\u201d Suchecki said. \u201cI have faith that they are having the right conversations and engaging with the right people on this to try to make change, but it still needs to be something that the institution buys into \u2014 and if the bipartisan partnership puts forward a proposal, and the speaker shoots it down, or if his office shoots it down, and he won\u2019t bring it to the floor, that\u2019s not worth anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While \u201cdozens\u201d of the CPSA\u2019s members filled out the survey the group sent around, he acknowledged it\u2019s hard for people to want to weigh in when they\u2019ve already experienced harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people that have some of the most harrowing stories were turned away by engaging with the topic at all, and I think that\u2019s something where we want to do more outreach to those folks, especially to get a better sense for where they fell off, what happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, Suchecki said the group also wants to talk to people who have left the Hill because of harassment or abuse and make further suggestions based on what they may have missed in the initial survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deliberately focused on the small things that might be achievable here, because every single one of these changes could catch someone from falling through the cracks, and could save someone who either doesn\u2019t know where to turn, or doesn\u2019t know if they want to stay in politics,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Platner weighs \u2018best path forward\u2019 as he denies sexual assault allegation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweeping moves to address sexual misconduct at the Capitol may not be coming anytime soon, given the slow pace of change in Congress. But even \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d could make a difference, some staffers say. The Congressional Progressive Staff Association laid out some ideas in a letter sent to lawmakers on Tuesday. \u201cStaff safety is crucial,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heard-on-the-hill"],"yoast_head":"\nProgressive staff group urges sexual misconduct overhaul - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Progressive staff group urges sexual misconduct overhaul - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sweeping moves to address sexual misconduct at the Capitol may not be coming anytime soon, given the slow pace of change in Congress. 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