Story highlights The clash began over a yearly spending bill to fund military construction projects and the Veterans Administration

Sean Patrick Maloney attached a proposal to uphold President Barack Obama's executive order protecting LGBT workers

Washington (CNN) House Democrats and Republicans on Thursday angrily confronted each other after a Democratic proposal to ban taxpayer money for federal contractors who discriminate against LGBT workers was defeated minutes after it appeared to have the votes to pass.

The chaotic scene -- accompanied by loud chants of "shame, shame, shame" -- included one Democrat facing off with the second-highest-ranking House Republican, accusations of foul play and a series of insults being traded openly on the House floor.

The clash began over a yearly spending bill to fund military construction projects and the Veterans Administration. Because the bill covers spending on federal contracts, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-New York, attached what he said was a one-sentence proposal to uphold President Barack Obama's executive order protecting LGBT workers from being fired. The amendment had enough votes to pass but the vote was held open, and several Republicans changed their position just before the vote was officially closed.

"They literally snatched discrimination out of the jaws of equality. We won this vote," a visibly irate Maloney told reporters.

Maloney accused House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of "twisting arms." Maloney and other Democrats told CNN that once the vote board showed the measure had 217 votes -- enough to pass with just eight seconds left in the vote -- McCarthy personally approached House GOP members to switch their "yes" votes to "no" as the presiding officer kept the vote open for several minutes past the standard five-minute period.

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