Republican Sen. Joni Ernst proposed an amendment on Tuesday to the controversial infrastructure package that would block funding to New York due to Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sexual misconduct.
Ernst, who is a survivor of sexual assault, worded the amendment to exclude states “in which the governor of such State has been found, by the relevant State or Federal authorities, to have sexually harassed employees while holding the position of governor.”
Sen. Ernst's staff working fast: she's filed an infrastructure amendment which would "prohibit funding from going to a state where the governor has sexually harassed employees"
(This amendment will not be voted on)
— Sam Mintz (@samjmintz) August 3, 2021
“A sitting governor who harasses and abuses women on his own staff and members of law enforcement must be held accountable, and shouldn’t be getting a dime of Iowa taxpayer money. Here’s a good place to start,” Ernst told The Federalist.
The proposal comes hours after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report detailing how Cuomo sexually harassed nearly a dozen women in what investigators labeled a “pattern” of “unwelcome and nonconsensual touching.” Investigators used more than 74,000 pieces of evidence and testimony from 179 witnesses to conclude that the Democrat took advantage of multiple victims including “young women” by engaging in unwanted groping, kissing, hugging, and making inappropriate comments.
Despite the attorney general’s acknowledgment that Cuomo and his administration “broke the law,” the investigators claimed their findings were a civil matter and that any further action would fall on prosecutors and the victims to pursue.
During a speech Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden, who was accused by one of his former staffers Tara Reade of sexual assault, agreed that Cuomo should resign.
BREAKING: Asked if he stood by his March statement to @GStephanopoulos that Gov. Cuomo should resign if an investigation bolstered claims of sexual harassment, Pres. Biden says, "I stand by that statement."
"Are you now calling on him to resign?"
"Yes." https://t.co/A4C7lVCcvu pic.twitter.com/qNQQoFVdg7
— ABC News (@ABC) August 3, 2021
Biden had indicated in March that Cuomo should resign if the New York attorney general’s investigation confirmed the allegations of sexual harassment.
“Yes, I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted too,” Biden said. “Here’s my position. A woman should be presumed to telling the truth and should not be scapegoated and become victimized by her coming forward.”
