BREAKING: House-Senate conferees confirmed today that the Matthew Shepard Act, which had passed the Senate as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill, would be removed from the final version of the bill. This announcement was made after House Leadership’s whipping the vote count on the conference report concluded there were not enough votes to pass the bill if it included the hate crimes provision.
Looking ahead, Joe Solmonese affirmed in a statement today that we would keep looking for alternative ways to move the hate crimes bill forward:
Today’s decision is deeply disappointing, especially given the historic passage of hate crimes legislation through both Houses of Congress this year. After more than ten years and several successful bipartisan votes, it is heartbreaking to fall short this close to the finish line. However, we are not giving up on efforts to find another legislative vehicle, in the second half of this Congress, to move the Matthew Shepard Act.
The exhaustive efforts of Majority Leader Reid, Senator Kennedy, Senator Smith, Senator Levin, Representative Conyers, Representative Kirk and other allies of equality on Capitol Hill, to keep the Matthew Shepard Act as part of this bill should not go unnoticed. We thank them for their efforts and know that they will continue to work with us to find a way to get this legislation to the President’s desk.
Inclusion of the hate crimes provision in the final version of the DoD bill fell victim in the House to challenges from opponents of hate crimes — as well as unrelated concerns regarding Iraq-related provisions of the bill.
Here’s a quick rundown of what happened: In May, the White House issued a veto threat against the hate crimes bill and organized opposition by House Republican Leadership. This move cost significant numbers of votes on the right. Iraq-related provisions that many progressive Democrats opposed cost votes on the left. Moderate Democrats, many of whom voted for the hate crimes bill in May, did not want to test the President’s veto threat and risk a delay in increased pay for military personnel. All of these factors resulted in insufficient votes to secure passage of the bill with the hate crimes provision.
The Human Rights Campaign's perspective on the news, issues and events affecting the every day lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the country.
![HRC-BACKSTORY [BLOG]](http://174.121.110.138/~hrcorg/hrcbackstory/images/logo/hrc-backstory.jpg){kind=logo}
