Dems seek to block religious exemption from defense bill
House push targets LGBT protections, Senate foes say.
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are intent on scuttling a House-passed provision that they say would undercut protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual or gender orientation.
In a letter delivered Tuesday to the leaders of the Armed Services committees, the lawmakers called the measure dangerous and urged that it not be included in the annual defense policy bill. They said the provision would amount to government-sponsored discrimination by permitting religiously affiffiliated federal contractors to refuse to interview a job candidate whose faith diffffffffffffers from theirs and to fifire employees who marry their same-sex partners or use birth control.
But Republican proponents of the measure have described the provision as a bulwark for religious freedom.
Forty lawmakers, joined by two independents, signed the letter to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairmen of the Armed Services panels.
The provision is at odds “with the values and beliefs that continue to advance our great nation,” the letter contends, yet it does not threaten to block the defense authorization bill if the measure is added.
The House added the provision to its version of the defense policy bill. The Senate did not, leading to a standoffff. The divide could threaten the timely approval of the defense legislation, which authorizes military programs for the new fifiscal year that started Oct. 1.
Congress returns after the Nov. 8 election for a lameduck session and will be under pressure to resolve difffffffffffferences between the two chambers and get a fifinal bill to the president’s desk.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who organized the letter, said Tuesday that a fifilibuster of the legislation would be an option if the provision isn’t removed before the bill reaches the flfloor of the Senate. But he said he hopes for a resolution before then.
The provision would “vastly expand religious exemptions” under the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act to allow contractors “to harm hardworking Americans who deserve to be protected from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religious identity, or reproductive and other healthcare decisions,” the letter said.
The House provision was authored by Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., who said it is aimed at ensuring faith-based organizations that perform work for the U.S. government aren’t forced to act against their beliefs.
Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, criticized GOP senators who she said are trying to distance themselves from GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for saying he would punish women for choosing abortion and for derogatory comments he made about women in the past.
“But in Washington, those very senators are trying to enact legislation that would use taxpayer funds to do just that — discriminate against and punish women, (LGBT) people, and others under the guise of religious liberty,” Hogue said.