ENDA Whip Count

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)

Today was filled with news out of Washington, principally around Secretary Sebelius and her hearings before the House (congressional hearings are almost always infuriating and pointless due not to evasiveness but due to the time limits proposed on each lawmaker-five minutes hardly seems like a decent amount of time for the Secretary and each member of the House to have a meaningful conversation).

However, the other big piece of news surrounded ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act).  With Sens. Pryor and Manchin both saying they would vote for the passage of the bill, every Democrat in the U.S. Senate has signed on to support the bill.  Cory Booker will join the Senate tomorrow (and most certainly endorse it), so with the support of four Republicans (Susan Collins, Mark Kirk, Lisa Murkowski, and Orrin Hatch, and yes that last one surprised me too), it now appears on the verge of the magical number sixty.  Sen. Rob Portman makes the most sense for the sixtieth vote, considering his relatively strong recent support of gay marriage/rights (thank you to his son Will for helping out with that vote), though by the time the final vote happens I am guessing at least two of the following four senators will have joined in with support: Kelly Ayotte, Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, and Dean Heller.

The bill is likely DOA in the House due to Speaker Boehner being unlikely to bring it to a vote in the House, though theoretically if the bill had 218 co-sponsors a discharge petition would be another option.  Currently the bill has 187 co-sponsors in the House, and so if you aren't in Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Nevada, or North Carolina pay attention, as there's some surprising Democrats still left to co-sponsor.

Four Republicans in the U.S. House have signed onto the bill: Reps. Richard Hanna (NY), Charlie Dent (PA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), and Jon Runyan (NJ).  However, seventeen Democrats haven't endorsed the bill yet (the open seats in both Massachusetts and Florida give the Democrats a good chance at hitting 185 of their members as co-sponsors, so don't forget to vote for Alex Sink and Katherine Clark).

Amongst the Democrats are some politicians you'd expect from moderate or conservative leaning districts.  Mike McIntyre, Pete Gallego, Nick Rahall, and Bill Enyart all represent either even districts or districts where the Republicans have a positive PVI, making converting them probably an "only if we could actually pass the bill" sort of situation (though it's worth noting that Jim Matheson and Collin Peterson both have signed onto the bill).  On the flip side, Democrats from incredibly liberal districts where a yes-stance would not only avoid being a hindrance, but would in fact enhance their status in the district and help them avoid a primary are also pretty plentiful.  Mel Watt, Hakeen Jeffries, Cedric Richmond, Terri Sewell, and Corrinne Brown all represent districts that have a PVI of more than D+20, so it's ridiculous that none of the five of them have co-sponsored the bill yet.

It's also odd that at least four Democrats who have come out in favor of gay marriage haven't cosponsored yet, and are probably the four best bets to co-sponsor since they clearly have a pretty strong attitude toward gay rights: G.K. Butterfield (NC), Hakeen Jeffries (NY), Jim Costa (CA), and Bill Owens (NY).  I'll put the full list below so if you recognize your representative you can send them a note encouraging them to support the bill.  And I'll keep you in-the-loop if we get any new supporters.

Democrats Who Have Not Cosponsored ENDA Legislation: Henry Cuellar (TX), Bennie Thompson (MS), G.K. Butterfield (NC), Terri Sewell (AL), Corrinne Brown (FL), Cedric Richmond (LA), Mel Watt (NC), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Dan Lipinski (IL), Sanford Bishop (GA), Jim Costa (CA), Gene Green (TX), Bill Enyart (IL), Bill Owens (NY), Mike McIntyre (NC), Nick Rahall (WV), and Pete Gallego (TX)