Axios: Congress races to fix secret hush money system as "a lot more" revelations expected. November 27, 2017 by Garret Vreeland in Human Rights, Law, Politics The existing system is a racket. Settlements are secret, and the Ethics Committee is notorious for protecting its own. We — as in all of us taxpayers — pay the hush money, because that's who foots the bills for these settlements. Only a few lawmakers have publicly pushed for broad, quick change.