The Employment Non-Discrimination Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate today by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), with Senators Kennedy (D-MA), Snowe (R-ME) and Collins (R-ME) serving as the other lead sponsors. Thirty-four other Democratic senators co-sponsored the bill, which would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Yes, that means that only 36 of the 60 members of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. Senate co-sponsored simple employment non-discrimination. Only two of the 40 members caucusing with the Republicans did so.
Which, of course, raises the question: What 24 Democrats don’t sign on to such basic legislation?
Here they are:
- Baucus, MT – (202) 224-2651
- Bayh, IN – (202) 224-5623
- Begich, AK – (202) 224-3004
- Bennet, CO – (202) 224-5852
- Byrd, WV – (202) 224-3954
- Carper, DE – (202) 224-2441
- Conrad, ND – (202) 224-2043
- Dorgan, ND – (202) 224-2551
- Hagan, NC – (202) 224-6432
- Johnson, T., SD – (202) 224-5842
- Kaufman, DE – (202) 224-5042
- Kohl, WI – (202) 224-5653
- Landrieu, LA – (202) 224-5824
- Lincoln, AR – (202) 224-4843
- McCaskill, MO – (202) 224-6154
- Nelson, Bill, FL – (202) 224-5274
- Nelson, Ben, NE – (202) 224-6551
- Pryor, AR – (202) 224-2353
- Reid, NV – (202) 224-3542
- Rockefeller, WV – (202) 224-6472
- Stabenow, MI – (202) 224-4822
- Tester, MT – (202) 224-2644
- Warner, M., VA – (202) 224-2023
- Webb, VA – (202) 224-4024
Colorado, Delaware, Michigan and Wisconsin? Really? Yes, Senators Bennet and Kaufman are new, but Sen. Franken found his way onto the bill — so that’s no excuse. And Kaufman’s been in the Senate for years as a staffer. And, Sen. Kohl? Your state has a domestic partner registry that started this week, but you aren’t a co-sponsor of federal employment non-discrimination legislation? As for Sen. Stabenow, I was shocked and double-checked the list to make sure I hadn’t just missed her.
Well, make your calls, folks. It’s no good having 60 votes if we only get a few more than half of the caucus on a matter of basic fairness like employment non-discrimination.
And, for all the “why isn’t Obama doing more” folks, this is why. If this is what we get on ENDA, imagine the response to a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal bill or — goodness gracious — a Defense of Marriage Act repeal bill in the Senate. Crickets.
We’ve got some work to do in the Senate. Sixty isn’t sixty even on health care — it sure as hell isn’t sixty on LGBT equality measures.
That said, it’s also clear that Sens. Collins and Snowe need to do their part to get some more of their Republican colleagues — N.H. Sen. Gregg, where they already have marriage equality, or Ohio’s Sen. Voinovich, for example — on board.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Chris Geidner is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who writes at Law Dork, is the senior political writer at Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications. An extended biography can be found
I’d like to think though that the courageous four Senators who introduced the bill genuinely want it to pass and therefore truly believe that even if they don’t have enough co-sponsors to ensure pasage they have enough people signed on to at least vote for it to make sure it passes, similar to Rep. Murphy’s DODT bill in the House. I imagine if it does come for a vote and does not pass it may a long while until we see this bill in the Senate again… but it also would be nice for Obama to at least expend a little political capital to say what you just said, this is really basic legislation about basic fairness and protections. nothing radical.
I think the odds are good that a lot of those who didn’t sign up as co-sponsors still will vote for the bill. Regardless, this is about as basic of a protection that one can seek, and nearly half of the Democratic caucus isn’t on board. What does that signal for other, more controvesial measures? I think nothing good.
“What does that signal for other, more controversial measures?”
It signals that the chances for progress in Congress are next to impossible without leadership from the President. And even though candidate Obama repeatedly promised leadership on DADT, the record of Pres. Obama signals that we have no reason any longer to expect any leadership from the White House. So I agree with you that this signals “nothing good.”