Ryan orders ethics inquiry into Pa. lawmaker’s reported use of taxpayer cash to settle misconduct case

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HARRISBURG, Pa — House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered an Ethics Committee investigation Saturday after The New York Times reported that U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan had used taxpayer money to settle a complaint arising from hostility toward an ex-aide who rebuffed his romantic overtures.

The story, published online Saturday, cites unnamed people who said Meehan, R-Pa., had used thousands of dollars from his congressional office fund to settle the sexual harassment complaint the ex-aide filed last summer to the congressional Office of Compliance.

Ryan’s office said the allegations must be investigated “fully and immediately” by the House Ethics Committee, and that Meehan should repay any taxpayer funds used to settle the case.

Ryan’s office also said Meehan is being removed from the committee.- READ MORE

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The United States Senate has paid out more than $1.5 million in “workplace harassment” settlements — including sexual harassment settlements — since 1998, according to a report released by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee over the holiday weekend.

The Senate had been reticent to release any actual figures on how much taxpayers have doled out over their members’ bad behavior, but the small regulations body chaired by Sen. Richard Shelby allowed the public to get a closer glimpse at Senate records while most of the country was busy celebrating Christmas.

According to the report, which is sparse on details, the Rules and Administration Committee has settled “dozens” of individual complaints in the last two decades, paying out $1.5 million — significant, but nowhere near the $15 million Rep. Jackie Speier claims has been doled out to victims from the House of Representatives’ coffers. Six hundred thousand of that total came from individual Senate offices. “Other Senate offices,” such as committee and caucus bodies, paid out $850,000. – READ MORE

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