WASHINGTON — Congress will not vote to expand hate crimes protections to homosexuals and transgendered individuals as part of a military authorization bill for next year, it was announced Dec. 6.
Supporters of the controversial legislation in the House of Representatives were so short of a majority if the Department of Defense authorization bill reached the floor with the hate crimes language included that they chose not to even have a vote. House leaders estimated the bill would have been about 40 votes short of passage.
The House had approved the hate crimes expansion in May as a stand-alone bill, and the Senate had passed it in September as part of the Defense measure. A conference committee of senators and representatives worked on a version to report to both chambers for passage, but Senate conferees chose to drop the hate crimes language when it became clear the House would not approve it.
The White House had indicated President Bush would veto the hate crimes expansion, even if it were part of the Defense legislation.
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