U.S. Senate A Leahy Amendment to National Defense Authorization Act (S.Amdt. 1511) Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 that would expand federal jurisdiction to reach serious, violent hate crimes perpetrated because of the victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. The Senate voted to invoke cloture on July 16, 2009, by a vote of 63-28 (Roll Call Vote No. 233, 1st Session, 111th Congress). Democrats — 56 yes, 0 no, 2 not voting; Republicans — 5 yes, 28 no, 7 not voting; Independents — 2 yes, 0 no. HRC supported the motion to invoke cloture. HRC also supported the amendment, which passed on a voice vote after the cloture vote. B “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Motion to Proceed, December Following the failure of the first attempt to invoke cloture in September 2010, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved to reconsider the motion to proceed to consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, which contained a provision allowing for the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. On Dec. 9, 2010, the Senate again failed to invoke cloture by a vote of 57-40 (Roll Call Vote No. 270, 2nd Session, 111th Congress). Democrats — 54 yes, 1 no, 1 not voting; Republicans — 1 yes, 39 no, 2 not voting; Independents — 2 yes, 0 no. HRC supported the motion to invoke cloture. C “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act of 2010 (H.R. 2965), Motion to Invoke Cloture Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act of 2010 (S. 4023), a standalone bill to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law on Dec. 9, 2010. On Dec. 18, 2010, the Senate successfully voted to invoke cloture on an identical House bill (H.R. 2965) by a vote of 63-33 (Roll Call Vote No. 279, 2nd Session, 111th Congress). Democrats — 55 yes, 0 no, 1 not voting; Republicans — 6 yes; 33 no, 3 not voting; Independents — 2 yes, 0 no. HRC supported the motion to invoke cloture. D “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act of 2010 (H.R. 2965) Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the standalone bill (S. 4023) to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. On Dec. 18, 2010, the Senate voted on the final passage of an identical House bill (H.R. 2965) by a vote of 65-31 (Roll Call Vote No. 281, 2nd Session, 111th Congress). Democrats — 55 yes, 0 no, 1 not voting; Republicans — 8 yes, 31 no, 3 not voting; Independents — 2 yes, 0 no. HRC supported the bill. E District of Columbia Marriage Referendum (S.Amdt. 3568) Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) offered an amendment to the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act to suspend issuance of marriage licenses to samesex couples in the District of Columbia and require a referendum. A budget point of order was raised against the amendment. The Senate voted against
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HRC CONGRESSIONAL SCORECARD
www.hrc.org/scorecard