Representatives Ryan Costello (R-PA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), and Robert Brady (D-PA) introduced the Congressional Education About Sexual Harassment Eradication Resolution (CEASE) Resolution. This bipartisan resolution will require Members of the House, congressional staff, and other employees of the House to complete sexual harassment prevention and response training annually, and then provide a certification of completion with the House Committee on Ethics.
"I believe mandatory compliance training for sexual harassment prevention and procedures for response should be instituted for Members of Congress and all employees of the House," Congressman Costello said. "This resolution is an important step forward to establishing a clear standard and approach to addressing this issue."
"The Congressional Office of Compliance process is shockingly biased in favor of the perpetrator. This legislation is the first step to fix this abusive process," Congresswoman Speier said. "It's long past time that Congress held itself to the same standards applied to other branches of government and to the private sector."
"Required training for Members and staff on sexual harassment prevention should be quickly adopted by the House," Congressman Brady said. I applaud Representative Speier's leadership on this issue, and this resolution is a necessary first step."
"It is fundamental to an employee's safety for he or she to always feel comfortable at their workplace, and it's past time Capitol Hill move in that direction," Congressman Poliquin said. "In Congress, we set the laws and the policies for employees in the Executive Branch requiring federal workers to undergo sexual harassment awareness training. How can we be expected to lead on those policies when we, ourselves, are so far behind? There can be no tolerance of any kind for sexual harassment anywhere--period."