Buoyed by the success of North Carolina’s broadly discriminatory HB2 effort, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives also hope to enhance the ability to discriminate against any American who works for a federal contractor. Old habits die hard, reports Jennifer Bendery:
The House Armed Services Committee is set to take up the massive 2017 defense authorization bill on Wednesday, and when it does, there will be an amendment in the mix to make defense contractors immune to the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. That executive order requires contractors who have committed civil rights or labor violations to disclose that they’ve done so when they apply for new government contracts.
It’s unclear who authored the GOP amendment, which you can read here. But it’s expected to get a vote during the committee’s marathon hearing, which will run from Wednesday morning through early Thursday morning. [...]
The defense authorization bill is must-pass legislation that Congress takes up every year, and because of its size (it’s 758 pages this year) and necessity, it’s prime for amendments that target hot-button social issues. Republicans tucked anti-gay language into it in 2011, 2012 and 2013. There was abortion language in it in 2012. In a last-ditch effort in late 2014, Democrats tried to attach an entire bill to it that would prohibit workplace discrimination against LGBT people. Republicans rejected that effort.
Bendery later reported that GOP Rep. John Kline of Minnesota was responsible for the amendment. His spokesperson, Bethany Aronhalt, said it’s necessary because, “The federal contracting process is already plagued by delays and inefficiencies.”
Exactly, we must preserve the ability to discriminate because it’s efficient. Can you believe these bozos?