Report: $600,000 Dollars in Tax-Payer Money Spent to Settle Senate Claims

The Senate Rules and Appropriations Committee released the exact amount of  taxpayer money used to settle Senate misconduct lawsuits.

According to the Office of Compliance, from 1997-2017, Senate offices have paid out nearly $600,000 dollars in taxpayer money.

During that time there were 13 settlements arising from claims against “member-led Senate employing offices.”

A $102,903.62 settlement went toward an age and national origin discrimination and reprisal accusation.

Another $14,260.25 went to settle a sex discrimination, FSLA violations and reprisal.

The report does not release the names of the senators or the accusers.

Read the full report here. 

“While the Rules Committee has been eager to provide this information in a transparent manner, it has been our priority to protect the victims involved in these settlements from further harm,” said Chairman Richard Shelby, R-AL.

The use of tax payer money to squash lawsuits happens in the House too, and across party lines.

A recent report from Buzzfeed revealed Congressman John Conyers, D-MI, used $27,000 of tax payer money to settle a wrongful dismissal complaint after the accuser rejected his sexual advances.

A 2015 investigation against GOP Congressman Blake Farenthold, R-TX, was dismissed when Farenthold reportedly used $84,000 of taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment and discrimination charge.

As CBN News reported, Representative Diane Black, R-TN, is leading a bi-partisan effort to get rid of taxpayer funded hush money and require lawmakers to pay back the money.  

Black’s Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act would also disclose the names of the Congressman involved.