By Evaristo Lara
Josh Hawley, a senator from Missouri, is promoting a bill through which legislators convicted of sexual abuse would be prevented from accessing federal pensions.
The scandal generated by the complaints made against former representatives Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales raised an alert in Congress to take action on the matter immediately with the aim of having both characters investigated.
Four women accuse Democrat Swalwell of allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct and even raping two of them.
Given the seriousness of the accusations, in addition to ending his aspirations to compete to try to be the next governor of California, he chose to present his resignation as a member of the House of Representatives.
Regarding the Republican, Gonzales was accused of having had an extramarital affair with one of his collaborators who months later ended up committing suicide due to the pressure exerted against him with the aim of obtaining his resignation to erase any evidence of the mistake linked to the 45-year-old politician.
Although at first the ex-marine denied the facts, social pressure later forced him to recognize his mistake and also to resign from Congress.
Under investigation, both former representatives can still aspire to receive a pension for their services in the House of Representatives, even if they are found guilty of the charges against them.
For this reasonSenator Josh Hawley introduced the bill called the Ban Pensions for Congressional Predators Act, whose objective is to prohibit any of its members convicted of serious sexual crimes from receiving pensions granted by the federal government.
“Right now, a member of Congress can be convicted of sexual abuse and still receive a taxpayer-funded pension. That is unacceptable.
Introducing legislation to close this apt loophole and ensure lawmakers are never compensated with taxpayer dollars after such a breach of trust. The only thing the government should pay for is a jail cell for these people,” he explained in a statement.
Keep reading:
• Sex scandals shake Congress; House leader demands to restore dignity to the Capitol
• Another woman accuses Eric Swalwell of allegedly drugging her to rape her
• Republican Tony Gonzales resigns from Congress after scandal over sexual harassment of an employee
