Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday he was prepared to reintroduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the House today, but a need for more co-sponsors has apparently postponed the reintroduction, according to Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade:
Harry Gural, a Frank spokesperson, confirmed that ENDA had yet to be introduced on Wednesday and said his boss wants more support before going forward.
“It was announced but not formally introduced — the bill has not been ‘dropped,'” Gural said. “We have the bill text exactly as it will be [introduced] — which is exactly the same text as last year. But before it is formally introduced, we are still collecting cosponsors.”
Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, said HRC was told ENDA would be introduced on Wednesday, but is behind Frank's decision to hold off on introduction until additional support is found.
“If the congressman believes that the legislation would be best served by collecting more co-sponsors, then we would completely support that,” Sainz said. “Their plan may have been to introduce it today, but the congressman may have made a very good decision to wait until there are co-sponsors that have signed on, and I think that if that's his judgement, then we would concur with his judgment.”
No time frame was offered on the bill's formal reintroduction.
