Johnson Backs Banning Lawmakers From Sex, Dates With Congressional Staff

Amid a series of sexual harassment and assault scandals that have rocked Capitol Hill in recent years, Speaker Mike Johnson says he supports a new measure to try to crack down on relationships between lawmakers and staff — by banning the practice altogether. Under current rules, lawmakers are allowed to engage in sexual relationships with staff members so long as those staffers don’t work directly for that particular member of Congress. Just this year, two lawmakers — one Republican and one Democrat — both resigned under pressure from their colleagues who threatened to expel both men. Congressman Eric Swalwell was accused of rape while Congressman Tony Gonzales faced allegations that he had sexually harrassed a former staffer — a charge to which he later admitted. In the last ten years, several other Democrats and Republicans have resigned in disgrace from Capitol Hill, with many of them being forced out due to allegations of various degrees of sex offenses. Many female members of Congress and young women staffers have described a culture of silence in both parties which forces those in uncomfortable positions to remain silent for fear that their careers could be harmed by coming forward.Mr. Johnson is now going a step further to try to prevent such incidents in the future, saying that he supports an outright ban on any relationship between a House member and a member of another lawmakers’ staff. “I can’t believe it would be acceptable in any situation,” Mr. Johnson said of such relationships at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “You have a role where you have members of Congress and their subordinates and staff members, and I think it’s inappropriate, as it would be in any workplace.”“We should — at a bare minimum in Congress — have, you know, rules and traditions that are adhered to in corporate America,” the speaker said.Over the weekend, the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House — the conference chairwoman, Congresswoman Lisa McClain — told the New York Post in an interview that she would push for a ban on relationships between lawmakers and all staff members, regardless of in which office that staff member works. “Congress should have a bright-line rule that Members should not have romantic or sexual relationships with congressional staff,” she told the post, arguing that the “inherent power imbalance” between elected officials and staff members “can undermine trust and create an appearance of impropriety.”“The goal should be protecting staff and maintaining confidence in the institution,” she said. Congress did not ban lawmakers from engaging in sexual relationships with their own personal staff until 2018, when a number of Senate and House members were forced to resign over allegations of sexual harassment. Between 2017 and 2018, four House members and one senator stepped down after being accused of harassment. Another House member resigned in 2019 after she disclosed that she had engaged in a sexual relationship with a campaign staffer before being elected in 2018. Ms. McClain’s push for a ban on sexual relationships between lawmakers and staff was spurred on by a new report from the New York Post last week detailing Senator Ruben Gallego’s consensual relationships with two Hill staffers. Both of the relationships were with those who worked for other members of Congress, and both occurred after Mr. Gallego split with his first wife in 2017, but before he married his second wife in 2021.

Johnson Backs Banning Lawmakers From Sex, Dates With Congressional Staff

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