News
40 Senate Dems call for rejection of anti-LGBT adoption measure
Republicans approved anti-LGBT amendment in House bill
Sen. Ron Wyden leads 40 Senate Democrats in opposition to an anti-LGBT adoption amendment.
A group of 40 Senate Democrats led by Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are calling for rejection of an amendment that would penalize states and localities for policies barring taxpayer-funded adoption agencies from discriminating against LGBT families over religious objections.
In a letter dated July 24 to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the lawmakers call for rejection of an amendment inserted into the House version of major funding legislation by Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) enabling anti-LGBT discrimination in adoption services.
“The inclusion of such legislation would sanction taxpayer-funded discrimination and prevent a significant share of Americans from opening their homes to foster children,” the letter says.
The letter draws on the ongoing opioid crisis and the increasing number of children without homes as a result of the problem as a reason for lawmakers to reject the amendment.
“It is never acceptable to use federal funds to discriminate based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family structure or marital status, but the timing of the House language is particularly egregious given the spike in foster care caseloads across the country brought on the opioid epidemic,” the letter says.
Aderholt introduced the amendment into the fiscal year 2019 labor, health and human services and education appropriations bill during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the legislation. The committee adopted the amendment by a party-line 29-23 vote. Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) was the only Republican to vote against it.
It’s unlikely the legislation or the amendment will reached President Trump’s desk for him to sign it into law. The Senate committee has already its approved its version of the funding and a similar measure wasn’t included in the bill. If the bills were conferenced, that would likely mean the anti-LGBT provision would be dropped.
Moreover, in years past, the funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services and Education hasn’t even reached the House floor and those programs continued to receive federal funds through omnibus spending legislation, according to the ACLU.
The Washington Blade has placed a request seeking comment on the letter with the offices of Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the top Democrat on the panel. [UPDATE: A Leahy spokesperson said the senator “agrees that the Aderholt provision is discriminatory and would insist that it be dropped in conference.”]
Ian Thompson, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union, commended Wyden and other senators for speaking out against the anti-LGBT adoption amendment.
“There are over 118,000 children awaiting adoption in the United States,” Thompson said. “The best way to provide loving and stable homes for these children is to have as many qualified prospective foster and adoptive parents as possible. Today, 40 members of the Senate – led by Sen. Wyden – joined leading child welfare organizations and civil rights advocates in saying that discrimination has no place in our child welfare system because every child deserves the opportunity to grow up with the support of a loving family.”
District of Columbia
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
‘This is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on March 20 signed a bill approved by the D.C. Council that requires health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
Like all legislation approved by the Council and signed by the mayor, the bill, called the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act, was sent to Capitol Hill for a required 30-day congressional review period before it takes effect as D.C. law.
Gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) last year introduced the bill.
Insurance coverage for PrEP drugs has been provided through coverage standards included in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But AIDS advocacy organizations have called on states and D.C. to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP as a safeguard in case federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
Like legislation passed by other states, the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act requires insurers to cover all PrEP drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Studies have shown that PrEP drugs, which can be taken as pills or by injection just twice a year, are highly effective in preventing HIV infection.
“I think this is a win for our community,” Parker said after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to approve the bill on its first vote on the measure in February. “And this is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
President Donald Trump removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post Thursday, following growing criticism over how she and the Department of Justice handled a range of issues, including matters related to sex offender and Trump ally Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump announced Bondi’s removal on Truth Social, where he also said Todd Blanche will serve as acting head of the Justice Department.
“Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my attorney general over the past year,” Trump wrote on the platform. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown on crime across our country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump was seen as recently as Wednesday with the now-former attorney general at a Supreme Court hearing on citizenship.
The decision contrasts with Trump’s previous public praise of Bondi, the 87th U.S. attorney general and former 37th attorney general of Florida, who served in that role from 2011-2019 before joining the Trump-Vance administration. He has frequently lauded her loyalty and said he speaks with her often. Bondi was also one of president’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial.
Privately, however, Trump had grown frustrated that Bondi was not “moving quickly enough” to prosecute critics and political adversaries he wanted to face criminal charges, according to multiple sources. The New York Times reported that her inability to charge former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James with any crimes is a large factor in the president’s choice to fire her from the government’s primary law enforcement agency.
The move comes as Trump has sought to minimize public turmoil within his administration, avoiding the perception of a revolving-door Cabinet that defined his first term.
Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who unsuccessfully ran for governor, has emerged as a leading contender to lead the Justice Department. He has been one of Trump’s most reliable allies.
“He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said of Zeldin in February during a White House event promoting the coal industry, adding, “He’s getting those approvals done in record-setting time.”
Bondi has also growing faced scrutiny from Congress.
The House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed her to testify about the department’s handling of certain files, where she declined to answer key questions during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing in February.
The Tampa native has a long history of opposing LGBTQ rights through her roles in government. As Florida attorney general, she fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage, arguing it would cause “serious public harm,” pushing forward a legal battle that cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She also asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
More recently, Bondi established a “Title IX Special Investigations Team” within the Justice Department focused on restricting transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports teams and accessing facilities aligned with their gender identity. She also told Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to turn over the medical records of anyone under 19 who received gender-affirming care.
Her removal follows Trump’s decision last month to oust another controversial female Cabinet figure, Kristi Noem.
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
JD Vance to travel to Hungary next week
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general
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