Democrats are calling out the seven Republicans who switched their votes Thursday to help kill a measure protecting LGBT workers from job discrimination. But it was really 30 House Republicans who reversed course.
Last year, 60 Republicans voted for a similar amendment upholding President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive order banning federal contractors from making hiring decisions that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The amendment, which California Democratic Rep. Scott Peters attached to a transportation spending bill, was adopted 241-184 .
On Thursday, New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat, offered basically the same amendment to the military construction and veterans affairs spending bill. It failed by a single vote, 212-213 , after some Republicans switched their votes at the last minute.
Only 29 GOP members voted for the Maloney amendment Thursday; another, Wisconsin’s Paul D. Ryan, voted for the Peters amendment last year but did not vote at all on Thursday. As the current speaker, he typically does not cast votes.
Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, one of only 29 Republicans who supported the amendment, called on his party to oppose discrimination against LGBT people. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Curated from Really, 30 Republicans Switched Sides on LGBT Discrimination
