Speaker Johnson backs more restrictions on relationships between lawmakers and staff

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday indicated he would support expanding the House’s prohibition on sexual relationships between lawmakers and staff members.

Asked at a press conference whether he would support banning members from having relations with any Capitol Hill staff — as some top Republican women in the House have called for — Johnson said, “Yeah.”

“I can’t believe it would be acceptable in any situation,” Johnson said. “You have a role where you have members of Congress and their subordinates and staff members — I think it’s inappropriate, as it would be in any workplace, and most companies have that.”

“We should, at a bare minimum in Congress, have, you know, rules and traditions that are adhered to in corporate America,” Johnson said. “So, that’s an easy one for me.”

The House in 2018, amid the “Me Too” movement, adopted a prohibition in its Code of Official Conduct against sexual relationships between lawmakers and staff members under their direct supervision, or staff members of a committee on which they serve — making an exception for two people who are married to each other.

The rule, though, allows members........

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