Today the House passed legislation introduced by Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), who serves as the Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, alongside Representative Ashley Hinson (IA-01), Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), to drastically improve policies and oversight in regards to sexual harassment at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Their legislation, the Improving VA Accountability to Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act of 2021, follows an alarming federal survey which estimated that one in five VA employees experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. After holding a hearing, Congressman Pappas helped introduce this legislation which will update policies, based on recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to address these unacceptable findings.
Specifically, this legislation will require VA to report all sexual harassment complaints, create a better leadership structure to help oversee complaints, and update sexual harassment policies, information, and training.
You can watch his floor speech here, and read the remarks as prepared below:
Thank you M_ Speaker,
I rise today on behalf of veterans in my state of New Hampshire and across the country in support of a peice of legislation that I introduced which frankly cannot wait any longer - that is the Improving VA Accountability to Prevent Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Act.
This bipartisan, bicameral bill will take critical steps to combat sexual harassment by updating VA's antiquated policies and structure in addition to creating stronger reporting requirements.
We know that at least one in four women and one in ten men who have served in the military are survivors of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or sexual abuse. We also know that these assaults are most frequently perpetrated by other servicemembers.
And at VA, we know that at least one in four women veterans and one in four women employees experience sexual harassment in healthcare settings. Frequently, the perpetrator is a male veteran.
It is simply unacceptable that someone who has proudly served our nation is subjected to sexual harassment in the institution whose charge it is to serve them, and it is long past time for us to make these changes.
I urge my colleagues for swift, bipartisan passage of this legislation.
I yield back.
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Original source can be found here.
