WASHINGTON ― After months of delays by Republicans, senators have reached a bipartisan deal to crack down on sexual harassment in their ranks. It eliminates rules forcing victims of sexual harassment to undergo counseling, mandatory arbitration and a 30-day “cooling off” period before taking a complaint to court. But when the House bill arrived in the Senate, some anonymous male GOP senators opposed that provision and stopped the bill in its tracks. Every male Democratic senator ― plus Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who co-sponsored a sexual harassment bill with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) ― wrote to McConnell urging him to do something. One of them, former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), quit without repaying $84,000 in taxpayer money he spent on a sexual harassment settlement.

Source: Huffington Post May 23, 2018 02:48 UTC