Earlier this evening the U.S. House defeated a Republican motion to instruct conferees seeking to strip the hate crimes provision from the Defense Authorization bill to which it is attached. The vote was 178 to 234. You may recall that in July, the Senate voted 63 to 28 to add the provisions of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the defense bill. Nearly identical legislation passed the House earlier this year on a bipartisan vote of 249 to 175. Conferees are expected to retain the hate crimes provisions in the final version of the conference report and today’s vote is a strong show of support for the hate crimes language.
So what’s next? House Conferees have been appointed and a vote on the final conference report in the House is expected on Thursday. The Senate action on the conference report should follow next week and then the bill will go to President Obama for his signature. Finally the federal government will have the tools it needs to help combat hate-motivated violence. Stay tuned for more updates.
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.
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Earlier this evening the U.S. House defeated a Republican motion to instruct conferees seeking to strip the hate crimes provision from the Defense Authorization bill to which it is attached. The vote was 178 to 234. You may recall that in July, the Senate voted 63 to 28 to add the provisions of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the defense bill. Nearly identical legislation passed the House earlier this year on a bipartisan vote of 249 to 175. Conferees are expected to retain the hate crimes provisions in the final version of the conference report and today’s vote is a strong show of support for the hate crimes language.
