News
2006-03-10
Republicans try
to kill hate-crimes legislation
Committee
chairman takes advantage of "suspension of the rules"
procedure.
In a calculated
In a calculated
effort to remove hate-crimes protections for gays and
lesbians attached to a federal bill, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner
offered up parallel legislation without the
protections that cleared the House on Wednesday.
The earlier
legislation, a children's safety bill that included
hate-crimes amendments, passed the House last September.
Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, brought a new
children's safety act to the floor without the
hate-crimes amendments and saw it pass. As chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, Sensenbrenner took advantage of
the "suspension of the rules" procedure, in
which debate on proposed legislation is limited
and amendments cannot be added. Sensenbrenner's bill
will most likely replace the earlier bill and heads
now to the Republican-controlled Senate.
“The
United States Congress is not a card game. You can't just
keep reshuffling the deck if you don't like the first
hand the majority deals you,” Human Rights
Campaign president Joe Solmonese argued. “It is
hypocritical to claim to promote child safety while
squashing legislation that would keep millions of
Americans, children included, safe from hate
violence." (Advocate.com)
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