ENDA passage effort renewed with Senate introduction

[The Philosopher]

from The Washington Blade

The junior senator from Oregon introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. Senate on Thursday as he voiced support for an executive order that would bar the federal government from contracting with companies that don’t have their own workplace protections for LGBT people.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) endorsed the idea of an executive order an as interim alternative to passing ENDA during a news conference on Capitol Hill in response to a question from the Washington Blade after he announced the Senate introduction of the legislation

“Certainly, I share the perspective that it would be tremendous to accomplish this by legislation,” Merkley said. “But I also feel that this is a conversation that is going to reverberate at a number of levels. You have counties, you have state action and certainly, I feel, it’s a legitimate possibility, and I would support the president saying that contractors who are beneficiaries of federal funds should in fact practice non-discrimination, so I would support that.”

The executive order endorsed by Merkley http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/02/02/advocates-seek-obama-order-barring-lgbt-job-bias/">has been seen as an interim alternative to ENDA passage while Republicans are in control of the House and progress on the measure in the lower chamber of Congress is unlikely. The White House hasn’t said one way or the other whether Obama would be open to issuing such a directive. Last month, Gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) also http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/03/29/polis-backs-executive-order-barring-anti-lgbt-job-bias/">expressed support for the executive order.

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/04/15/enda-passage-effort-renewed-with-senate-introduction/">Click Here To Read More

[xchrom]

1. all this insanity just to get a non-discrimination act passed.

JUST PASS IT. shit. :mad:

[The Philosopher]

2. One Senate Aide

commented how it depends on a push from the President, since it will take "common-sense Republicans" to pass it. So it'll be a test of President Obama's bipartisan wizardry. Let's hope he's as vocal about this as his "invest in Americans" speech.

[xchrom]

3. not holding my breath -- he always waits for the senate to 'go first' on

lgbtiq issues.

no drama obama never wants to seen as being too pushy for us.