In a released report from the Congressional Office of Compliance, we discovered that taxpayers were on the hook for $17 million settling sexual harassment claims that came out of the offices of the Legislative Branch over the past two decades since 1997.

The report was released Wednesday and detailed the number of settlements along with the amounts each fiscal year, beginning in 1997 and running through 2017.

The Office of Compliance decided to release the information due to the massive amounts of recent inquiries.

Executive director Susan Tsui Grundmann wrote a letter that was attached to the report.

Based on the volume of recent inquiries regarding payment of awards and settlements reached under the CAA, I am releasing these figures beginning with Fiscal Year 1997, up to and including FY 2017,” Grundmann wrote. “A large portion of cases originate from employing offices in the legislative branch other than the House of Representatives or the Senate, and involve various statutory provisions incorporated by the CAA, such as the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Congressional Office of Compliance releases year-by-year breakdown of harassment settlements and awards: pic.twitter.com/vxbezi22wb

— Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) November 16, 2017

The Office of Compliance has released settlement details for fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 pic.twitter.com/gnbfH7YtK1

— Jennifer Shutt (@JenniferShutt) November 16, 2017

The settlements total $17,240,854 that provided 264 settlements, and you were sent the bill, America!

In 2002 alone, settlements averaged $400,000 per incident!  That did follow just after President Bill Clinton left office, which might explain some things.

It seems now it’s deemed fashionable to make sexual harassment claims, often without any evidence and long after the alleged misconduct took place.   This seems to be part of the reason that Office of Compliance is releasing the information as a slew of people are coming forward now and claiming sexual harassment.

These claims are coming at a time when we are hearing some form or another of sexual abuse, misconduct or harassment every time the news is on.

While I stand against such behavior and do side with both men and women who may have had to endure such crimes against them, quite often the claims are made years after the fact and only after the person targeted is in a position of power or after the accuser has used the person they are accusing to advance themselves in some measure.

In either case, taxpayers should not be funding these settlements.  The accused should be doing that.