About the bill
The Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act would prevent the use of taxpayer money to pay settlements or awards for workplace harassment and discrimination claims.
Context
A 1995 law called the Congressional Accountability Act allows taxpayer funds to be used for paying settlements when members of Congress were accused of sexual harassment. Since then, $17 million of taxpayer money has been paid out in 264 individual cases.
At the time, the law was actually considered a step forward, because it ended what had been a longtime congressional exemption from discrimination and workplace lawsuits by employees. It faced virtually no opposition at the time, with a unanimous 390–0 House vote and a nearly unanimous 98–1 Senate vote. (Only the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) opposed.)
But in recent …
Sponsor and status
115th Congress (2017–2019)
This bill was introduced on November 30, 2017, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
103 Cosponsors (77 Republicans, 26 Democrats)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Rep. Royce: Secret Taxpayer-Funded Settlements Betray the Trust of the American People”
—
Rep. Edward “Ed” Royce [R-CA39, 2013-2018]
(Co-sponsor)
on Dec 12, 2017
“Come and Read It Report”
—
Rep. Roger Williams [R-TX25]
(Co-sponsor)
on Dec 5, 2017
“Fitzpatrick Continues Push to End Sexual Harassment in Workplace”
—
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick [R-PA1]
(Co-sponsor)
on Jan 24, 2018
History
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Nov 30, 2017
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
H.R. 4494 (115th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 4494. This is the one from the 115th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 115th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 3, 2019. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
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“H.R. 4494 — 115th Congress: Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2017. March 23, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr4494>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
