US: Congress Close to Vote on Benefits for Gay/Lesbian Partners of Federal Employees

Congress is preparing to vote on a bill that would extend benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees after passage in committees from both houses. Wisconsin Representative Tammy Baldwin's Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009 (DPBO) is quickly wending its way through Capitol Hill. The legislation would make the spouses of gay and lesbian federal employees eligible for certain benefits previously denied because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay unions, bars such benefits. DPBO would carve out an exception to the law. The proposed law received a boost Wednesday with passage out of a key Senate committee. Members OK'd the bill with an 8 to 1 vote. Senator Robert F. Bennett, a Republican, was the lone dissenter. That is, Bennett was the lone in-person “nay” vote; five additional Republicans voted against the bill by proxy: Republican Senators Tom Coburn, John McCain, George V. Voinovich and Lindsey Graham. Those members, along with Senator John Ensign, who did not take a position on the bill, score low on the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Congressional Scorecard, an annual report that measures a lawmaker's support for gay rights. (Proxy votes are not included in a final tally.) Full Story from On Top Magazine: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=5016&MediaType=1&Category=26

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