Today, we are asking you is there a role for congress in the gymnastics of use scandal . In the easternes or central times on, you can call 202 7488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific regions, you can call 202 7488001. And if you or a Family Member or an amateur or collegiate athlete, there is a special line for you, 202 7488002. You can also reach us on social media come on twitter cspanwj and on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. At theake a look headline from you today about those efforts in congress. Imposes is going to regulation that requires new requirements on amateur sports organizations, something that would coincide with increased public pressure to address a scandal within the olympic community. Enduredese women have too much, which is why we must do more to protect our amateur athletes so that this never happens again. Joining us on the phone today is the author of that story, niel. Sl good morning. About what congress is doing in the wake of the Sexual Abuse Scandal. Guest sure. This is one of the situations where the National Attention has been pulled from the horrifying situation, which has got to the attention from congress. In addition to the legislation that should be moving to the house monday night come up we have heard calls and plans for a bipartisan investigation in the house, the energy and commerce committee. We are expecting investigations in the senate because there is a commerce subcommittee in the senate that has already sent a bunch of letters around, or at least sent a letter to the u. S. Olympic committee with a bunch of questions. Wherever this goes i think next is beyond sort of just usa and other organizations that are affiliated under the usa olympic umbrella. The ncaa, theith collegiate athletic association, because obviously the involvement with Michigan State here, and what we keep hearing and what we heard more of friday night, means that the ncaa, probably the next direction that congress would want to go. Host talk about the authority that congress has. What does that have to address, both usa Gymnastics Organization and the olympics, as well as politics who use federal funding . Part right, so the second of that, whether your Michigan State or in the other school, congress is very direct, and members have already been very they are going to use their authority to investigate this. If you are a school like Michigan State, you get a lot of federal money, whether it is student loan money or grant money for students. Funding that colleges like Michigan State are dependent upon, i would imagine a school like Michigan State, there is a whole and of agriculture money that goes that way as well, and so that is a piece, if you are a college, you should be watching because you need the federal money. The other piece, in terms of the organizations like usa gymnastics and similar sports, that authority is derived from something called the stevens act, obviously named for the late former senator from alaska, which basically granted the authority of the u. S. Olympic committee to be the one to choose to recognize the authority of the Olympic Authority to be want to choose who goes to the olympics, rather than having somewhere to situation where there might be doing bodies. A congressionally recognized organization, and in theory, if usa gymnastics or some other organization under the umbrella was not behaving or operating the way congress wanted, congress could designate someone else to be in charge of usa gymnastics, because they are creating a different entity to that. Host what sort of solutions are members of congress proposing . Is it more setting up rules in place to prevent this from happening again and increase disclosure of abuse allegations . Or is it something more punitive against schools or organizations that allow this to happen . Guest so far, what we have mainly heard is about the establishment of new reporting requirements, saying basically when there are abuse allegations, you actually have thesel, whether it is police, the local police or some sort of federal authority, that these allegations should not be pushed under the rug. In this particular case, Congress Wants to mandate that they not be swept under the rug. The other part of this that i dont think we have heard so much about yet obviously, there currently are requests for information from Michigan State, and i am sure there may be other schools that have received similar letters the real for, if youre is are an organization like the ncaa, or you are another sports organization, one of the things you are always afraid of is that congress will call into question whether you should really be a taxexempt entity, and that is something that usually gets organizations, if you are a college, you do not Want Congress going around questioning whether or not you are in fact a nonprofit. Lesniewski, the Senior Senate staff writer at roll call, thanks for joining us today. Guest thank you. Host we are asking you if you think congress has a role in this gymnastics scandal. Mike is calling from florida. Good morning. Caller hi. What is your first and last name . Host my name is kimberly atkins. What do you think about the Congress Angle . Do you think congress should act . Caller kimberly asskins. Host all right, were going to move on to douglas from maryland. What do you think congress ought to do about the gymnastics abuse scandal . Caller i think they ought to tend to their own kitchens. Millions of dollars paid to people over the last decade, and these people required to sign a nondisclosure agreements of they could not say what happened. Senator franklin and congressman i forget who it was, but several of them have resigned. What they are doing is scaring the public away from their own house kitchens to Something Else , hoping we will forget about that, but we should not. They should be cleaning their own house first. Host do you think there is a in other scandals as well, or do you think they cannot do anything until something daffodils are pass in congress . Caller i am sorry to say this, but i think we are a little bit dysfunctional on their end, in congress, on almost any issue right now. Host all right. The New York Times has the latest on the follow from the abuse scandal. Usa gymnastics confirmed friday night at all the remaining members of its board of delayeds would resign, fallout from the widespread l abuse scandal is calling in from chestertown. Could we are you talk to douglas . I am sorry about that. We are talking to kevin from blackwood, new jersey. What are your thoughts, kevin . Caller one, i agree with the previous caller about congress and how this is a very universal bank, and while all of these sexual abuse cases are coming out, any legislation is great to make it, you know, less likely. I think now is the time to start legislation nationally in every aspect, every field, you know, because it has been such a hit topic and hidden area that occurs, you know, a lot more than people think and in every single field. So every type of legislation for the olympics and all of that i think should be involved, you know, including congress. But we should start, you know, initiating National Laws in every field. Host kevin, what do you think about the response so far about membersols athletic gymnastics . N, usa do you think the schools are doing enough themselves, or are they moving too slowly, and that is why congressional action is needed . Caller it is moving too slowly, breakou know, you have to a few people being dismissed, you know, it is the culture, as well as one of the things that can help us having stronger laws and legislation. Thehat helps changing culture and hiding sexual abuse, you know, people with power and but itcially, to is also helping at all levels. A look at whate gymnast aly raisman said in calling for an independent investigation into usa gymnastics, the olympics committee, as well as Michigan State university. [video clip] reporter do you think in your heart that justice was served yesterday . Aly no. It is not something where you instantly feel better. We need to hold these organizations accountable. Usa gymnastics, United States olympic committee, msu, they need an independent investigation. This is bigger than larry nassar. We need to get to the bottom of how this disaster happened. If we cannot figure out how it did, we cannot be confident that it will not happen again. Host we are talking to you, getting your thoughts, do you think there is a role in congress for the gymnastics abuse scandal . If youre in the eastern or central time zones, 202 7488000. Mountains or pacificins or region, 202 7488002. Or if you are an athlete, 202 7488002. The the Washington Post, committee will be Holding Hearings about the Sexual Abuse Scandal. Friday, a plan to hold a hearing any Sexual Abuse Scandal rocking the u. S. National Gymnastic Team as well as reports of abuse in the National Swimming and taekwondo programs. Host demanded that the rest of the board resigned, and as we reported, they have agreed to do that. Robert calling for pennsylvania. Robert, what role do you think congress should play in this, if any . Caller well, i do not want to talk about sports, i just want to give my opinion on something. You can. Of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Thing i want to say, maybe two, there is a wise old owl that is up in the tree, and your head is a dome. Host all right, were going to caller from florida. Do you think congress should get involved . Caller absolutely. Nobody, i think you mentioned the penn state issue with joe paterno and that pervert Jerry Sandusky. I actually think that congress should get involved and hold these people on these boards personally liable so that they cannot weasel out of any responsibility. Some of them get paid, even the ones that dont get paid, there is some prestige. Of craft a certain type individual that thrives off of the importance of, well, i am a board member big deal. Then when push comes to shove, the oversight, they wash their hands, they do absolutely nothing, and if you hold them that they canble be prosecuted, they can be sued, i think that would go a long ways to protect not only young women but also, in the Jerry Sandusky case, young boys. Host ok. Lets take a look at former olin vick gymnast olympic gymnast, and how usa gymnastics handle her case. [video clip] organization an that is rotting. They have a policy of not reporting sexual predators. At the time i was being abused, up until i can forward and some corrections were revealed, they file systematically sexual reports in a file cabinet. We have a policy that is not reporting sexual abuse, you have a perfect dynamic for a predator to flourish. Host we are talking to you, getting your thoughts is there a role for congress in the Sexual Abuse Scandal . 202 7488000 if youre in the eastern or central time zones. If you are in the mountains or pacific zones, 202 7488001. If you or a Family Member is a college or amateur athlete, you can call 202 7488002. The New York Times reports today about the latest resignation from Michigan State university in the wake of the scandal. There was more reprimand on friday from the fallout of lawrence g nasser, who was accused of cereal abusing more than 150 young women while he was a doctor at Michigan State university and for the National Womens gymnastics team. Host this was not an easy decision for my family, and you should not jump to any conclusions, mr. Hollis said in a statement in which he also declared i am not running from anything. Host robert is calling in from california. What you think the role is for congress here, robert . Caller one of my favorite things about this country and being a citizen is when they get hauled in front of congressional hearings, getting called on the carpet or whatever. I find that entertaining, and i also find it enlightening. It is an experience going back and allmoking ceos that other sort of stuff. It is important to all these people up there to haul these people up there. I am sure they fear it, trust me. Host who would you like to see go before congress to explain this . Istwe will go on to chase who calling in from germantown, maryland. Good morning, chase. Caller thank you, cspan, for taking my call. I am ok with Congress Answering the sexual abuse issues, however, i do view it as an aspect of putting on a bandaid over a gaping wound. Legislation does not necessarily change the cultural issues that exist run Sexual Assaults, abuse, etc. And require secondary, tertiary changes of various elements to include educating people on avenuesbuse, creating for sexual abuse, for them to be able to report it to people. The earlier caller said that there needs to be liability for people, the higher ups. There are laws for that, based on the will employment the equal implement opportunity in which the higherlevel organizations or people being charged are held responsible. Of these cases come of that is not what we see here, so the board of directors in this case, Michigan State university, directly employed this doctor, need to, unfortunately, be held responsible based on the laws that exist. Host is there a concern that even if congress does respond and impose new rules, then without enforcement, that could all be for not . I think trying to enforce legislation alone does not answer all of the questions, being that there has to be theificant education for random bystander alone the signs of sexual abuse. The background investigations of certain people youre going to employe. Y. That is the way i see it. Host this scandal was brought to light by the accusations of the young women who told about the abuse that they suffered. The Detroit Free Press, they ran a cover naming all 156 people, even the names where they were publicly disclosed and in other cases calling them by the victim number as they were identified in court documents. Under the headline courageous these women brazenly came forward with their heartbreaking statement, making sure no one would forget what the monstrous doctor who worked at Michigan State university and from usa gymnastics did to them. Betty is calling on the line from palmetto, florida. Good morning, betty. Caller i think about all of stuff,pe and all of this there was ago, when slavery, that was rape, but nothing was said about it. , for 40these ladies now years, after they get a career, they started, they wanted to retire. Why didnt they complain about it 40 years ago . People are of these young women, and this has been happening recently, in the case of the gymnastics. They were minors in a lot of cases when this was happening. Caller i understand that, maam, but nothing was not about our slave ladies back then. They had to work. By their masters. Nothing was done about it, nothing was said about it, and you do not hear about it now. I would need grow race, we never had no racist because all the light skinned, black skin tate lackskinned negroes now are from rate. Host all right. Aaron is calling from connecticut. Oversightthink the should be it is not a blackwhite issue, is not a race issue, it is not a republican or democrat issue. In my opinion, it is a matter of people in power taking advantage of people. Host how do you guard against that, then, eric . Responsible . School officials, olin but olympic officials, who should be the guardian care . Help. so much this seems to me that they are more concerned with getting money where they need to get votes. It goes against older people taking advantage of younger people. Host all right. Usa today has a report that has been uncovered that shows how Larry Nassars activities were allowed to go unchecked for so long. Denhollander toldmanda thomasshow police larry nassar sexually assaulted them, but the ensuing investigations into it with drastically different results. Host that was the result of the finding of Lansing State Journal in michigan, which went through public records requests in light of the investigation into larry after those 156 women came forward. Matt is only the line from nebraska. Good morning. Caller good morning. It, not ahink about lot of folks know this, but these kids, they are trying to get on, make the olympics. Kindsfamilies spent all of money getting them trained over all these years, and then, you know, to hear all of this stuff just makes me absolutely sick. Kimberly, i think one of the biggest points of this is, ok, we need to hold the ncaa accountable as well. I mean, penn state, yes, there were people who went to jail, and they paid out, what couple over 61 million in fines . Stuffyou know, all the with baylor comes up, and you dont hear anything from the ncaa, nothing, because the ncaa does not answer to anybody. But they get the federal money, and i think that the reporter call pointed out that the only way to get anyone from the ncaa to actually get in there and start doing something is to take them off their nonprofit status. Thehit the guys in checkbook, those guys from kansas city will start paying attention and really looking at things. This whole thing, i mean, just makes me sick because, you know, rearskids work therir off to represent our country, and at having to put up with this sort of job just makes me sick. Host matt, do you think the repercussions should be stronger, as you mentioned, we have artie seen a situation abuse was uncovered, do you think that means other schools should have been on even higher notice, vielma lavelle for this typ