Luke Messer of Shelbyville and Todd Young of Bloomington, voted Wednesday night for an amendment to the spending bill offered by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., to uphold President Barack Obama’s executive order barring employment discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
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Late Wednesday night, Maloney reintroduced the amendment, this time to an energy and water spending bill, and it passed, with 43 Republicans votes.
Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan (R-Wisc.) told reporters on Tuesday that the breakdown last week was the result of confusion about the amendment and a fear that the issue could undermine support for the overall bill.
The broader fight over transgender rights spilled into the judiciary on Tuesday, with 11 states suing to block an Obama administration initiative instructing all USA public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.
A almost identical amendment last week tied to a military construction and Veterans Affairs spending measure was narrowly defeated, prompting the same language to resurface five days later.
Democrats said they opposed two Republican amendments.
“He believes firmly in protecting the founding principle of religious liberty, while at the same time ensuring Americans do not face discrimination”, said spokeswoman Lauren Beebe.
Democrats booed and shouted as the amendment failed, and party leaders unleashed a wave of criticism. “We will continue with an appropriations process”. The provision could have passed with 217 votes, but Republicans held the vote open for about eight minutes to allow members to change their votes. “Something shameful happened”, Maloney said.
The GOP leadership is trying to “thread the needle”, as aides put it, between conservatives itching for another chance to challenge Obama and those who don’t want to tackle an issue they think is best left for the states to resolve.
But multiple Republicans acknowledged that it would be hard to move additional spending bills because the same issue is likely to trip them up.
“It is deeply disappointing that the House has adopted this amendment that is nothing more than a naked attempt to prevent the federal government from acting to enforce our nation’s civil rights laws”, Thompson said.
Whether the freshman member who gave the prayer meant to condemn members of the LGBT community has left Republicans and Democrats deeply divided.
Maloney said he will “of course” plan to introduce the measure to future spending bills, which could further disrupt the process and make it impossible for the House to pass any more spending bills. “All we are saying was the executive orders that created workplace fairness should not be rolled back”. “These are exceptionally hard issues that our country needs to address, and we can and should find a way for them to coexist”.
But other House Democrats have indicated that such amendments – and the “reality” they expose – are actually welcome political gifts. That sent the chamber into chaos, with Democrats shouting, “Shame!”
“A bunch of members were misled as to what the amendment was or was not”, Ryan said.
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Ryan blamed Democrats for the outcome today, even as other Republicans acknowledged that as the majority party they have the responsibility to get spending bills across the finish line.
