Rules Committee Republicans blocked a vote on a Democratic-offered proposal that would strip federal contracts from companies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, in order to ensure that the larger spending bill could pass the House.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., asked the committee Wednesday evening to allow the amendment, which was originally offered by New York Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, to receive a vote Thursday when the House takes up the bill that appropriates money to fund Congress. It was a pro forma request, however — only two Democrats were present for the vote, which failed 8-2.
“I think that the policy issues of the Capitol should emanate in a policy committee,” Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said earlier Wednesday.
Maloney’s amendment is designed to buttress President Obama’s executive order “prohibit[ing] federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” Conservatives oppose the bill, fearing that it would require companies and religious organizations that receive federal contracts to hire people who oppose their beliefs and require them to let transgender people use any bathroom of their choosing.
The House passed the amendment last week when voting on the energy and water appropriations package, with the support of 30 Republicans. But then Democrats who voted for the amendment proceeded to vote against the larger spending bill, which simultaneously lost the support of Republicans who had supported it before the amendment was offered.
“They put an amendment in there that forced many Republicans to vote against the bill, and then they voted against it,” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., told Roll Call. “Their motivation clearly was not to pass the amendment. Their motivation was to kill the bill. And what that does [is] it forces us at the end of the year to have a [continuing resolution] or an omnibus bill. And that’s what we’re fighting to avoid.”
