Mary Gay Scanlon: “Yesterday the Committee on Rules met and reported a rule, House Resolution 1464, providing for consideration of S. 4524…”

“Yesterday the Committee on Rules met and reported a rule, House Resolution 1464, providing for consideration of S. 4524, the Speak Out Act, under a closed rule. The rule provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary as well as one motion to commit. The rule further provides the majority leader or his designee the ability this week to en bloc requested roll call votes on suspensions. The rule also provides roll call votes on suspension bills considered on November 14 or 15 may be postponed through November 18. Lastly, the rule provides standard recess instructions for the district work period from November 21 through November 28 and deems passage of House Resolution 1463. Madam Speaker, today's rule provides for consideration of the Speak Out Act, a straightforward, bipartisan bill, that passed the Senate unanimously, to prevent nondisclosure agreements from silencing victims of sexual assault and harassment. Over the past 5 years, we have seen numerous cases of women and men disclosing their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace. As more people came forward, others felt empowered to share their experiences, and offenders who had long gotten away with such reprehensible conduct increasingly faced consequences to their actions.…”