An update on the continually-troubled Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) from Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade:
Hopes persisted the measure would move forward when the dust settled after Election Day, perhaps as a floor amendment in the Senate to the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill, but now that Republican gains flipped control of the chamber, even that method of getting ENDA to President Obama seems unlikely to succeed.
Two Senate aides familiar with the defense authorization bill, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Blade that it's unlikely the Senate will allow any floor amendments to the legislation — let alone pro-LGBT legislation that would prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI): "I think it's going to be hard. For most of the legislation, they're going to wait until January when they have a Republican House and a Republican Senate. So, I think the lame duck session could be more lame than usual perhaps because of that, and I would be really surprised if much of substance especially around LGBT issues moves.”
