House lawmakers doled out more than $338,000 in taxpayer funds from a so-called “sexual harassment slush fund” between 2007 and 2017, according to data released by Rep. Nancy Mace this week.
The figure is higher than previously known, but a much lower portion of the $18 million total paid out in response to workplace complaints on Capitol Hill than had been rumored.
On Monday, Mace (R-SC) confirmed the names of four former legislators whose offices made payments: Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), Eric Massa (D-NY), John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.)
All four were previously known to have faced sexual misconduct accusations.
Farenthold’s office paid out $84,000 in 2014, Massa’s paid out $115,000 over multiple occasions in 2010, Conyers’ office paid out $50,000 in 2010 in addition to a $27,111.75 severance payment in 2017, and Meehan’s office spent $39,250 in 2017.
All four were also included on the House Ethics Committee’s list, released last month, of all 28 publicly disclosed sexual misconduct probes of members dating back to 1976.
Two offices on Mace’s list were not previously known to have made payments: Former Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), who paid out $15,000; and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), who reached an $8,000 settlement.
Alexander has since claimed the payout was related to behavior by a former staffer who was fired after the former rep learned about the allegation. McCarthy died last year.
Back in 2018, at the height of the “#MeToo” movement, Congress passed a law banning the federal government from footing the bill for lawmakers’ sexual harassment cases, ending the practice of taxpayer-funded settlements.
Mace obtained the names after the powerful House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the information earlier this year.
“One thousand pages,” Mace posted on X with a binder full of information. “All records prior to 2004 were destroyed – which tells you everything you need to know about how long this has been buried.”
“We will release the full 1,000 pages – once we confirm that personally identifiable information of victims and witnesses has been properly redacted,” she added. “Accountability is not a threat. It is a promise.”
Mace’s colleague, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) had demanded transparency about the more than than $18 million paid out to settle close to 300 workplace complaints involving congressional offices, the Capitol Police, the office of the Architect of the Capitol, and the Library of Congress between 1997 and 2019.
Those settlements covered issues including discrimination, harassment, pay disparity, and retaliation.
Speculation had mounted that a very large chunk of the $18 million paid out, as cited in a 2019 Office of Congressional Workplace Rights report, went to sexual misconduct claims.
“$18 million of your taxpayer dollars was used to payout sexual harassment settlements by the congressional slush fund,” Luna claimed on X last month.
The Post contacted Luna’s office for comment.
Congress has faced a reckoning over sexual misconduct following the rape accusations that emerged against disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) last month.
Swalwell ultimately dropped his bid for California governor and resigned from Congress. Now he is facing probes from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Justice Department. The California Dem denied wrongdoing but acknowledged “mistakes in judgment,” including extramarital affairs.
Former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) was also pressured into resigning last month after the married dad of six was caught sexting subordinates, including one who fatally lit herself on fire after dousing herself with gasoline with gasoline last year.
