Which Seven House Republicans Just Killed An LGBT Bill Supported By 7 Out Of 10 Americans?

Wednesday night a small but extremely powerful Republican-led House committee killed the last chance ENDA had of passing in the 113th Congress.

The image at the top of your page is the official photo of the complete House Rules Committee of the 113th Congress. Comprised of nine Republicans and four Democrats, the committee gets to decide which bills will ever reach the House floor for a vote, and under what rule. Think of it as a traffic cop for legislation.

Last night, this very powerful committee, by a 7-3 vote, killed ENDA, despite 73 percent of Americans supporting the concept that it’s not OK to fire someone just because they’re LGBT, and despite the fact that 69 percent of Americans already think we have such a law on the federal books, even though we do not.

So yet again, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is dead. Some version of ENDA, or its predecessor, has been introduced into every Congress except one, since 1974. 

The bill passed the Senate last year, 64-32, and there is essentially no chance it will even be brought to the House floor for a vote during the few short days left in this session of Congress. Speaker John Boehner has said he does not support the bill and already believes LGBT people are protected. 

“Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) introduced the amendment on behalf of Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who’s gay and chief sponsor of ENDA, during House Rules Committee consideration of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill. Polis is a member of the Rules Committee, but was absent when the amendment came up for a vote,” the Washington Blade reported last night.

Lawmakers who voted against the amendment were House Rules Committee Chair Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.), Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas). Voting in favor of the amendment were Reps. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Hastings.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) is one of eight House Republican co-sponsors of ENDA and a House Rules Committee member, but she wasn’t present during the committee session to vote on the amendment.

The version of the bill Republicans killed Wednesday night was one Rep. Polis drafted that did not have the religious exemptions that have become so dangerous in this post Hobby Lobby world.

We thought you should see the faces of the Representatives who killed ENDA, this time around.

 

Left to right, top to bottom, meet Reps. Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, Tom Cole, Virginia Foxx, Richard Nugent, Daniel Webster, and Rob Woodall.

 

Image, top, via Facebook