The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations approved a bill requiring a formal report on how to combat “unconscious bias” in the hiring of staffers on Capitol Hill.
The last-minute plan was handwritten into a new spending bill.
Congress has passed laws requiring other federal agencies and employers keep a formal census on workers – their backgrounds, their diversity – but a November I-Team investigation found Congress kept no such census of its own.
Last year, the I-Team surveyed all 29 local members of Congress for their internal staff breakdown. Only a handful responded. People of color made up 43 percent of staffing.
Following the I-Team investigation, Senate Democrats launched their own review of diversity. Last month they reported its staff is overwhelmingly white but growing more diverse.
There's been no review of Senate Republicans' staffs.
