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White House advisers announced this week they would recommend President Bush veto ENDA if Congress sends the bill to his desk. (Photo by Evan Vucci/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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& Labor voted by a narrow margin to approve a gay-only version of ENDA and reported it to the full House for action.
Committee Chair George Miller (D-Calif.) and his chief lieutenant, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), were able to secure approval of the bill only after four Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure.
The committee voted 27 to 21 to approve ENDA, with 23 Democrats and four Republicans voting for it.
Seventeen Republicans and the four gay-supportive Democrats, including presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), voted against the bill.
If the gay-supportive Republicans voting for the measure had voted the other way, it would have lost by a vote of 23 to 25.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted against the gay-only version of ENDA in committee but is undecided on how to vote if that bill comes to the floor. (Photo by Kevin Wolf/AP) |
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The Democrats voting against the bill, in addition to Kucinich, were Reps. Linda Sanchez (Calif.), Yvette Clark (N.Y.) and Rush Holt (N.J.).
The four Republicans who voted for the bill were Reps. Michael Castle (Del.), Judy Biggert (Ill.), Todd Platts (Pa.) and Randy Kuhl (N.Y.).
The decision by Kucinich and his three Democratic colleagues to vote against the gay-only version of ENDA in committee came at a time when a coalition of more than 300 national and state gay and transgender advocacy groups is calling on Congress to oppose any version of the bill that excludes transgender protections.
Kucinich told the Blade he was undecided over whether to vote against a gay-only version of the bill on the House floor if the Baldwin amendment loses.
But his and the other three Democrats’ decision to vote “no” in committee raises the question of whether other gay-supportive Democrats would take the unusual step of joining House GOP opponents of ENDA by voting no and defeating the bill when it reaches the House floor.
Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Weiner, both Democrats from New York City who have strong records of support on gay rights, have since announced that they, too, would vote against a gay-only version of ENDA.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen [with a gay-only bill],” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, which has joined the United ENDA Coalition in urging lawmakers to vote against a gay-only version of the bill.
“We are getting a lot of calls from congressional offices saying they are considering voting no<
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