Why Congress is moving against sexual harassment, 4 years after #MeToo

Congress can sometimes demonstrate an unfashionable truth: It’s still capable of bipartisan achievements — they just tend to take years.

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation by voice vote to reform the way private companies handle sexual assault and harassment cases by ending the use of forced arbitration to resolve workplace disputes. The bill, first introduced in 2017, is more narrow than some advocates had hoped but nonetheless amounts to Congress’ most significant response to the #MeToo movement to date.

And everyone has a different theory for why it’s finally headed for President Joe Biden’s desk.

Democrats credited their leaders, in full control of Washington for the first time in a decade, for getting floor time for the legislation led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). Republicans cited years of stories shining a light on how common workplace sexual assault and harassment can be.