 The Congressional Office of Compliance secretly paid close to $100,000 in taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims from at least two young male staffers who worked for disgraced former Congressman Eric Massa, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ABC News. The claims were settled after Massa, a Democrat from upstate New York, resigned in 2010 amid a pending ethics investigation into allegations he groped and sexually harassed members of his staff. The Office of Compliance, now in the spotlight amid new bombshell accusations of sexual harassment by sitting members of Congress, says it has paid out more than $17 million in taxpayer dollars over 20 years to settle workplace complaints in the halls of Congress 
 
 That revelation, first provided by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who now is leading an effort to reform the claims process in Congress, set off a fierce public backlash about the process by which Congress handles its own cases of harassment and its use of taxpayer money to secretly settle those claims. Politicians accused of sexual harassment or assault 
 
 Since 1995, the Compliance Office has been able to take taxpayer dollars from the Treasury Department to settle harassment claims against Congress members. As Congress and the rest of the American workforce faces a cultural reckoning around the issue, Rep. Rice and a bipartisan group of House members introduced legislation this week that would require Congress to disclose the names of any members whose cases of sexual harassment cases are settled with taxpayer funds. In an interview with Fox News at the time of the scandal he admitted to groping one of his staff members.
– People who argue that Congress needs to be a lot more transparent about sexual harassment cases may have a new Exhibit A—the Eric Massa case. Sources tell ABC News that the Congressional Office of Compliance quietly paid around $100,000 in taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims against the Democrat, who resigned from the House in 2010 after being accused of harassing and groping male staffers. Since 1995, the Office of Compliance has been able to use Treasury funds to settle workplace complaints in Congress, reports the New York Daily News. Some $17 million has been paid out by the office, which refuses to disclose how many of the 264 separate cases involved harassment claims. Sources say the claims against Massa involved at least two young male staffers. "This is exactly why there should be transparency," Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice tells ABC. "There is no reason why these settlements, these accusations should be done in secret once they're adjudicated." She is co-sponsoring legislation to end the secret payouts. Lawmakers from both parties say they support requiring Congress to disclose the names of representatives who have harassment cases settled by the Office of Compliance. (Rep. John Conyers was hospitalized for stress-related issues after being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple staffers.)