House backs Massie's push to release taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlement records

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed a measure Tuesday that would force the disclosure of lawmakers who used taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., would require the House Ethics Committee to "preserve and publicly release" records related to monetary settlements involving sexual misconduct. 

Massie, a frequent thorn in House GOP leadership's side, forced a vote on the resolution, arguing that gaps in reporting requirements enacted in 2018 may still allow taxpayer-funded settlements to remain hidden.

The Kentucky lawmaker said he discovered there were no reported cases involving any members repaying sexual harassment settlements since then.

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His resolution would specifically direct the ethics panel and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly report sexual misconduct cases involving lawmakers and their staff that resulted in taxpayer-funded settlements, along with the total amount of taxpayer money spent.

"We need to know what's been going on here in the House of Representatives in order to convince the people and assure the people that we are conducting the people's business with the utmost integrity and treating offices and employees of this institution with the respect they serve," Massie said.

The final vote was 420-0-1. No lawmaker spoke against the resolution during debate on the House floor.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., was the lone lawmaker to vote "present," arguing Tuesday's vote was "nothing more than political theater" after she released information earlier this year showing the federal government paid out more than $330,000 to settle sexual harassment claims since the early 2000s.

"Now Congress wants to vote on doing what we already did," the South Carolina Republican wrote on social media.

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Mace, who helped orchestrate a transparency push targeting lawmakers’ behavior toward women amid several high-profile resignations, subpoenaed the Congressional Office of Workplace Rights through her position on the House Oversight Committee for a bevy of settlement documents involving at least six lawmakers or their offices.

Former Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, who resigned in disgrace in 2018 amid a House ethics probe into sexual misconduct allegations, was among the lawmakers named in the documents.

Former Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., who similarly resigned in 2018 amid reports he used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment suit filed by a former staffer, was also listed.

Ten lawmakers did not vote, as the chamber was scheduled to begin the July 4 recess immediately following the vote amid a conservative blockade of the House floor in protest of the stalled SAVE America Act.

The resolution’s passage comes after Cynthia West, a former Massie girlfriend, accused the Kentucky lawmaker of emotional abuse in May. West also alleged that Massie attempted to pay her $5,000 to drop a wrongful termination lawsuit against the office of Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who fired her shortly after taking a position in the office.

The House in March rejected a resolution offered by Mace to require the House Ethics Committee to release all documents compiled by the panel involving probes into members of Congress related to sexual misconduct.