Nov 16, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

The fate of a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill was called into question this week when gay-supportive members of the House of Representatives threatened to vote against a defense authorization bill to which the measure is attached.

As many as 20 House Democrats who are strong gay rights supporters indicated they might vote against the National Defense Authorization Act because it includes provisions that support President Bush’s efforts to continue the Iraq war, Capitol Hill sources said.

At the same time, as many as 180 House Republicans and conservative Democrats who voted against a freestanding version of the hate crimes bill in May threatened to vote against the Department of Defense authorization measure this week unless the hate crimes provision were taken out, congressional insiders said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was expected to join Senate Democratic leaders Thursday morning in announcing a postponement of a vote on the entire bill until at least Dec. 1, when Congress returns from its Thanksgiving holiday recess, according to a knowledgeable congressional source.

The House and Senate were scheduled to vote on a final version of the combined hate crimes-DOD authorization bill by Friday after a House-Senate conference committee made last-minute changes.

The Senate earlier this year approved the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the form of an amendment to the defense authorization bill.

Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), lead sponsors of the hate crimes measure, chose the amendment route for the bill because President Bush threatened to veto a hate crimes bill, and attaching it to a defense measure the president wanted would make it more difficult for Bush to veto the combined bills, supporters of the hate crimes bill said.

The House passed a freestanding version of the hate crimes measure before the Senate passed its version. House Democratic leaders indicated then that they would agree to keep the Shepard bill as part of the DOD authorization measure.

But that strategy appeared to be unraveling on Wednesday when House Democrats belonging to the Out of Iraq Caucus said they would vote against the defense authorization bill unless new language was added to curtail the president’s ability to continue the war.

If the current version of the DOD authorization bill unravels, Congress will likely vote to extend spending levels approved in the previous DOD authorization bill. Eventually a new DOD authorization bill will have to be passed, but it’s unknown if the hate crimes amendment would be carried over in the bill or if a new version will be drafted from scratch.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this week that Reid favors Senate action on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) but he doesn’t believe the Senate will have time to take up the gay rights measure this year.

“There isn’t a lot of floor time left,” said Jim Manley, Reid’s press secretary.

Manley noted that Kennedy, ENDA’s chief backer in the Senate, had not introduced the bill in the Senate as of this week, and the Senate was under great pressure to complete action on a number of appropriations bills that need prompt attention.

Before the Iraq funding dispute surfaced, most gay rights advocates pushing for the hate crimes bill expected House-Senate conferees to approve the hate crime measure as part of the defense authorization bill.

White House officials said earlier this year that the president was leaning toward vetoing the bill and that there were other aspects to it — it has 579 amendments, more than 99 percent of which are war-related — he had concerns about besides the hate crimes provision.

But in recent weeks, conservative religious groups opposing the hate crimes measure have expressed concern that Bush might sign the bill because it includes other provisions he needed for carrying out the Iraq war. Those reports gave gay and transgender activists a glimmer of hope that Bush might sign the first federal gay- and trans-inclusive hate crimes bill into law.

The legislation would give the federal government authority to prosecute hate crimes targeting gays and transgender persons as well as persons with disabilities. Existing federal law allows federal authorities to prosecute hate crimes targeting people because of their race, religion or ethnicity.

As the Blade went to press, the fate of both the hate crimes bill and ENDA remained unclear.

The House ...