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Congressional Actions

Below is a summary of the key congressional statements, bills, and task force activities pertaining to campus due process and sexual assault, since 2014:

SENATE:

• Statements:
  • Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “I think a crime of rape off campus or a crime of rape on campus ought to be treated the same way. And the sooner it’s treated the same way, the sooner the message is going to get out that you can’t get away with something on campus that you couldn’t get away with someplace else.” (December 9, 2014 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee)
  • Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “As a former United States Attorney and Attorney General for my state, I am concerned that law enforcement is being marginalized when it comes to the crime of campus sexual assault. I am concerned that the specter of flawed law enforcement overshadows the harm of marginalized law enforcement.”(December 9, 2014 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee)
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT): “Rape and assault is rape or assault whether it takes place on a campus or a dark street…If a student rapes another student it has got to be understood as a very serious crime, it has to get outside of the school and have a police investigation and that has to take place.”(Speech to the Black and Brown Presidential Forum, January 11, 2016)

• Letter:
  • Letter from Senate Democrats to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (January 30, 2019)
•  Bills:
  • Campus Accountability and Safety Act:
    • 2019: S. 976
    • 2017: S. 856
    • 2015: S. 590
    • 2014: S. 2692

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

1. Statements:
   1. Committee Republicans Support Sexual Assault Prevention Efforts (January 30, 2019)
   2. Virginia Foxx Statement on Education Department’s Title IX Rule (May 6, 2020)
2. Letter:
   1. Letter of opposition to new regulation, signed by 101 Democratic Representatives (May 22, 2020)
3. Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence:
   1. Announcement of Formation, April 5, 2017

   2. Virtual Roundtable on Addressing Racial Disparities in Access to Care for Survivors, December 9, 2020

   3. 2020 legislative agenda
4. Free-standing Bills:
   1. Safe Campus Act
   2. Campus Accountability and Safety Act:
      1. 2017: HR 1949
      2. 2015: HR 1310
      3. 2014: HR 5354
   3. Campus Sexual Assault Whistleblower Protection Act
   4. HALT Act

1. Appropriations Bills:
   1. Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act (2017: H.R. 4508)
   2. College Affordability Act (2019)