| Do you recall the recent discussions about whether the Senate was going to vote on federal hate crimes legislation as a standalone bill or tack it on as an amendment to some non-LGBT specific piece of legislation, such as a defense authorization bill? It would be an opportunity to get individual U.S. senators on the record on a piece of equality legislation.
Mind you, this is supposed to be the bill that should have no difficulty passing because the President and Congressional leadership are behind it. So why the need to bury it? (Washington Blade): Senate leadership has decided to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment to another bill instead of a standalone piece of legislation, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Trevor Thomas, an HRC spokesperson, told the Blade in a statement Monday that the Senate settled on this method of passage.
"We understand that Senate leadership does not believe a hearing or mark up on the bill is necessary and plans to bring it directly to the floor as an amendment to another moving vehicle," he said. The reason for this? According to an anonymous "Democratic aide," the standalone bill would be open to amendments in the Senate. OK, my first question is -- why can't this aide stand behind his statements without the cloak of anonymity? The damn statement is about a procedural tactic -- own it. The logical follow up, of course, is why do they think the bill is otherwise going to be watered down with amendments? Is Sen. Harry Reid so weak and inffective that he is not able to wrangle the Dems to pass this any other way?
Don't get me wrong, I want the bill to pass. The larger question is about the continued reticence shown by leadership to let a piece of legislation with overwhelming public support stand on its own. Does this mean the sitting Senate doesn't reflect the public that sent them there or that they are jellyfish scared by the right? Do any of these pols really believe they will not be re-elected if they pass an intact, stand-alone federal hate crimes law? If so, we're in for a hell of a spine-free ride on anything else coming down the pike.
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UPDATE: A well-connected person just passed on to me the following information from an administration source -- and it only confirms weak leadership in the Senate:
1) The fed Hate Crimes bill cannot be passed as a stand alone bill in the Senate -- as in the votes are not there. On f*cking hate crimes, people. With overwhelming public support for passage.
That is mind-blowing and says a lot about the lack of leadership -- why isn't Harry Reid or anyone else asking the public to call their Senators to specifically ask where they stand on the bill, and to put pressure on them? This is outrageous. Republicans know how to muscle up their bible beaters to call, fax and write the Hill to scare the bejesus out of lawmakers to get things done. Why are we not being asked to put some public pressure on? As I said in the post, slapping it onto another bill is not just about getting it passed, but it's about avoiding the exposure of the powerlessness of Reid. This is supposed to be the easy bill, remember.
The admin source is laying the blame at the door of Congress as the roadblock to progress on our issues, specifically the Senate, where again, Harry Reid is the man in the big chair and there aren't the needed votes there for any of our bills.
I'll take that bit of information with a giant grain of salt -- not that what is being said about Congress isn't true -- but that the administration isn't exactly stepping up on its end with the President calling for the public to "call your Congressman, call your Senators because I need them to hear from you because passing this legislation is important." Where is the bully pulpit? If it isn't there for hate crimes, don't look for it on ENDA or DADT.
2) Hate Crimes will definitely not be attached to the Defense Appropriations bill, something speculated in news reports. The end result is that it could be waiting a while for them to find the "proper" bill to tack it on to.
Bottom line -- why is the Dem leadership, if this bill in particular is an on-the-agenda item, being treated so passively in terms of generating public support and pressure on senators?
Like I said, if they are this spineless on Hate Crimes, you best believe we're not going to get any ACTIVE support out of these folks on the Hill or in the WH for the bills the right wing actually has serious game plans for -- and I don't just mean pro-LGBT legislation.
Related:
* Sigh. Look at the wrangling over fed hate crimes bill strategy |
