Harry Reid Clears Way For Obama To Sign ENDA Executive Order

[highplainsdem]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday cleared the way for President Barack Obama to use executive action to ban workplace discrimination against certain lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as the issue stalls in Congress.

"If the president decides to do it I’d be in favor of it," Reid told The Huffington Post, in the halls of the Capitol.

A number of Democratic leaders say Obama should take action since related legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has hit a wall in the House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says he won't give it a vote. The White House argues that executive action doesn't go far enough because Obama only has the ability to ban discrimination among government contractors, whereas legislation would apply to all employers. But with Boehner standing in the way of ENDA, and with the president taking executive action on other issues awaiting action in Congress, LGBT rights supporters are urging the president to get the ball moving.

HuffPost reached out to all 64 backers of the Senate ENDA bill, which passed in November, to see if they support the president using his executive authority on the issue. As of Tuesday, at least 18 senators responded and said they would support the move -- including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/04/harry-reid-enda_n_4724469.html

[marble falls]

1. Its the right thing to do and if Congress doesn't have a clue then the pen is the way to get it.....

into law. We'll see any corporation wants to appeal a judgement against them all the way to the SCOTUS or not. This is good law and even a Scalia could understand it.

[aggiesal]

2. How come nobody ties the income tax to any of these issues?

Everyone that pays income taxes has the right to demand anything that everyone is entitled to.
In this case it's against the law to discriminate in the workplace against women, or religion,
or color of skin.
Why? Because, besides being the right thing to do, they pay taxes into a society that is suppose
to protect them against these abuses.
The same should apply to the LGBT community, because they also pay taxes into the same society.

I know I'm not explaining this very well, but that's how I feel.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Straight Society claims they oppose LGBT rights because of their devout faith but it is really

a method of cheating us out of money, and money is the actual object of worship of the 'faith community' no matter what religion it is.

[Cha]

3. Dictator!!!111111

Thank you President Obama &highplainsdem!

[BoneDancer]

4. That's good news. I hope he takes action.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. Nope. Still "evolving." And, Gawd's "in the mix."