Russell Amendment is Defeated - for Now

Russell Amendment is Defeated - for Now

Selena Chavez, AAAED/LEAD Fund Intern

Copy of Amendment http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS00/20160427/104832/BILLS-114-HR4909-R000604-Amdt-232r2.pdf

Short Summary:

    In April of this year, the House added a controversial amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA bill outlines the budget for military and defense spending by the government. However, lawmakers attach controversial issues onto the bill to make a statement, although they often remove them last minute before it is passed to the president for approval.1 This year, the amendment added by representative Steve Russell entitled the Russell Amendment stirred tensions among the Senate.

    The Russell amendment, which was approved by the House Armed Services Committee, would allow any branch or agency of the Federal government to discriminate in their hiring processes based on their religious beliefs. Democrats who strongly opposed the amendment argued that “the amendment would effectively override President Obama’s 2014 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers. Democrats also worry it could allow for discrimination against women, based on their reproductive health choices.”2 Many Senate Democrats were so against the amendment that they composed a letter describing how it would be detrimental to anti-discrimination and civil rights.

    However, the Republicans recently agreed to remove the Russell Amendment from the NDAA in the middle of the Democrats protests. President Obama made it clear that he would veto the bill because of controversial measures like the Russell Amendment, so removing the Amendment assured a higher likelihood that it would be passed. While the NDAA is now free of the Russell amendment, there is still fear that a Trump Presidency means that President Obama’s 2014 executive order will be repealed.

1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lgbt-federal-contractors-religious-freedom_us_583de350e4b04fcaa4d540b3

2.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/25/fight-over-lgbt-provision-threatens-to-stall-defense-bill-when-congress-returns/?utm_term=.3f3df4d517db

Russell Amendment

• What: An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which outlines the budget for defense and Military spending. The Russell Amendment, which was added to the the bill in April by House “exempt[s] religious organizations with government contracts from federal civil rights law and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The amendment would effectively override President Obama’s 2014 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers. Democrats also worry it could allow for discrimination against women, based on their reproductive health choices.”
• Democratic sentiments: “Forty Senate Democrats plus two independents wrote in a letter last month that the provision would amount to government-sponsored discrimination by permitting religiously affiliated federal contractors to refuse to  interview a job candidate whose faith differs from theirs and to fire employees who marry their same-sex partners or use birth control.”
• Current Status: President Obama has threatened to veto the bill. However, “Republicans agreed to take out Russell’s measure amid protests from Democrats” (November 29th). While the NDAA is now free of the Russell amendment, there is still fear that a Trump Presidency means that President Obama’s 2014 executive order will be repealed.

Notes on the Russell Amendment from Articles

Gay Rights Looms as Hurdle to Passing Defense Bill

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/gay-rights-looms-hurdle-passing-defense-bill-n682571

• “Forty Senate Democrats plus two independents wrote in a letter last month that the provision would amount to government-sponsored discrimination by permitting religiously affiliated federal contractors to refuse to interview a job candidate whose faith differs from theirs and to fire employees who marry their same-sex partners or use birth control.
• “The provision would "vastly expand religious exemptions" under the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act to allow contractors "to harm hardworking Americans who deserve to be protected from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religious identity, or reproductive and other health care decisions," they said in the letter.”

National Security Threatened By Religious Amendment In Defense Spending Bill   

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/11/12/national-security-threatened-religious-amendment-defense-spending-bill.html

• “This is not a minor inconvenience for a couple of American workers. The Russell Amendment jeopardizes all existing non-discrimination policies that currently protect over one-fifth of the United States’ workforce. As an added affront to civil society and the soon-to-vanish concept of equal rights for all, the amendment also authorizes any so-called “religiously-affiliated” organization that receive federal grants (faith-based initiative money) and contracts to discriminate against every aspect of society that offends their religious senses; even if their religion amounts to being a personal mental bias against anyone.”
• ““It is simply stunning that House Republicans have decided to make targeting LGBT Americans a priority in the Defense Authorization bill. The Defense Authorization bill should be about making our country safe, and honoring the oath we take to protect and defend the American people. It should not be a place where the most extreme [evangelical] elements of the Republican Conference are allowed to codify hatred and intolerance against Americans based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”- Nancy Pelosi

‘Religious liberty’ anti-LGBT amendment puts defense budget at risk

https://www.rt.com/usa/364112-ndaa-russell-amendment-letter/

• It is not only LGBT employees whose jobs would be at risk due to the Russell Amendment. The letter explains that the amendment “would also allow religiously-affiliated contractors and grantees to inquire about and discriminate against employees or potential employees based on an individual’s religion.”
• The language of the amendment “would give legal grounds for an employer to prevent a gay man from having their husband added to their health insurance,” David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, explained to NBC. “Trans people could be fired from their job upon announcing their intent to transition."

Fight over LGBT provision threatens to stall defense bill when Congress returns

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/25/fight-over-lgbt-provision-threatens-to-stall-defense-bill-when-congress-returns/?utm_term=.3f3df4d517db

• The dispute started in April, when the House Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment from Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) exempting religious organizations with government contracts from federal civil rights law and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The amendment would effectively override President Obama’s 2014 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers. Democrats also worry it could allow for discrimination against women, based on their reproductive health choices.

Republicans Strip Their Anti-LGBTQ Provision From Defense Bill

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lgbt-federal-contractors-religious-freedom_us_583de350e4b04fcaa4d540b3

• The House passed its bill in May, with that amendment from Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) in it. But the Senate passed its own NDAA in June without that language. That has left a final bill ― and the fate of that amendment ― in limbo for months as House and Senate negotiators went behind closed doors to hash out their differences.
• Ultimately, Republicans agreed to take out Russell’s measure amid protests from Democrats, top committee aides told reporters Tuesday.
• Other paths” likely means that some Republicans will turn to President-elect Donald Trump to repeal Obama’s executive order, which he can do with the stroke of a pen if he wants. It’s unclear where Trump stands on this issue.
• Lawmakers often load up the NDAA with controversial measures, only to pull them out at the last minute. That’s because they know the bill has to pass ― it authorizes all of the nation’s defense spending for the next fiscal year ― so they want to make a statement on a particular issue while the bill is moving. Once it gets close to the time to send the bill to the president, they strip out the things the president opposes and send him cleaner legislation.

Anti-LGBT amendment stripped from defense bill

• Known as the Russell Amendment, the measure in the NDAA could have allowed taxpayer-funded discrimination against women, single mothers, LGBT people and religious minorities in religiously-affiliated organizations, including hospitals and universities.
• “Taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT people is wrong — plain and simple,” said AMPA President Ashley Broadway-Mack. “The fact that the defense spending bill was being used in an attempt to fund discrimination against minorities is disturbing. Thousands of LGBT service members put their lives on the line for our nation, and they and their families should never face discrimination here at home simply because of who they are or whom they love. We are pleased that in the end, lawmakers removed the discriminatory measure and fairness and equality seem to have prevailed.”