Senators Bennet (D-CO), Landrieu (D-LA) and Stabenow (D-MI) have joined as co-sponsors of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act since it was introduced in early August. [I missed it, but -- though missing from Sen. Merkley's initial news release -- Sen. Kohl has been signed on since the day ENDA was introduced.] I wrote earlier about the disappointing fact that 24 Democrats were not co-sponsors. No new Republicans have signed on to the bill since its introduction.
As I wrote in August:
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.
Two [Three] of my four initial targets — Kohl, Bennet and Stabenow — are on, which leaves Kaufman and Kohl. Also, as has become clear other times, Majority Leader Reid does not, as a matter of practice, sign on as a co-sponsor of legislation. As such, there are 20 Democrats left to target, with, in my opinion, Sen. Kaufman and Kohl [and Kirk,* who took Sen. Kennedy's seat] at the front of the line:
- Baucus, MT – (202) 224-2651
- Bayh, IN – (202) 224-5623
- Begich, AK – (202) 224-3004
- 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
- Kirk, MA – (202) 224-4543
- 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
- Rockefeller, WV – (202) 224-6472
- Tester, MT – (202) 224-2644
- Warner, M., VA – (202) 224-2023
- Webb, VA – (202) 224-4024
Also, call the three recent co-sponsors to thank them:
- Bennet, CO – (202) 224-5852
- Landrieu, LA – (202) 224-5824
- Stabenow, MI – (202) 224-4822
[Thanks to Dr. Jillian Weiss for the correction about Sen. Kohl and other information in comments.]
* = Although THOMAS still lists Sen. Kennedy as a co-sponsor, I would agree with Jillian that Sen. Kirk would need to co-sponsor the bill himself.
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Chris Geidner is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who writes at Law Dork, contributes regularly to Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications. An extended biography can be found
Good post, thank you. I note that Kohl is a co-sponsor. Lincoln has said she is not going to support the bill. You should also include Senator Kirk from Massachusetts. A number of Senator’s offices have confirmed that their Members will be supporting the bill, including Baucus, Begich, Dorgan, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Tester, Warner and Webb. It would be great if they would co-sponsor. I also think there’s a few Republicans who we might get on board, including LeMieux, Lugar Murkowski, and Voinovich. http://bit.ly/14TDll
If Sen. Lincoln says that she’s a “no,” we need to fix that.
Se. Lincoln (D-AR) doesn’t believe in “government-run health care” either so maybe after November 2010 when she doesn’t get re-elected we won’t have to worry about her vote!
I agree with you that ti’s pathetic that 40$ of the Democratic caucus is not signed on to ENDA, but I suspect that will change after hate crimes is signed and health care passes around Thanksgiving.
And how about the Republicans? I think the Senators from Maine will join in.