Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has since taken steps to limit Democrats’ ability to force votes on contentious proposals, but it will be difficult for House leaders to ignore the LGBT amendments two days after a gunman killed 49 people and injured 53 others at the Orlando nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

AD

AD

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said Sunday that the fate of each amendment will be up to members of the House Rules Committee, which will decide Tuesday afternoon whether the LGBT amendments will get another vote, according to a committee aide.

Maloney has reintroduced his amendment to an upcoming spending bill, forcing Republicans to deal with the contentious issue once again.

“There are always bigoted back minded people who want to stand in the way of equality and freedom,” Maloney said in an interview.

The appropriations bills have become the venue for the LGBT fight because they are among the only must-pass bills on the congressional agenda and leaders typically allow a large number of amendment votes on them.

AD

Ryan decided last week after a weekly closed-door meeting of House Republicans that he would limit amendments in hopes of avoiding another controversy over the charged issue in an election year. Republicans have insisted that Democrats are trying to use the appropriations process to make a political point.

AD

“Well, what we just learned today is that the Democrats weren’t looking to advance an issue. They were looking to sabotage the appropriations process,” Ryan said after the energy and water bill was voted down.

The firestorm started last month when Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) introduced a measure that would have rolled back an Obama administration ban on discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation in federal hiring as an amendment to the defense policy bill.

AD

Maloney responded by introducing his own proposal that would have expanded anti-discrimination rules to federal contractors. That measure failed after an intense fight on the House floor that had Democrats shouting “shame, shame” when it appeared that seven Republicans switched their votes to kill the amendment.

AD

Maloney introduced his language again when the annual energy and water spending bill came up for a vote the following week.

The amendment passed, but so did a GOP measure sponsored by Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) that would have allowed exceptions to protect for religious liberty. Another measure by Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) was also successful, preventing the federal government from stripping funds from North Carolina in response to a state law requiring transgender individuals to use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex assigned to them at birth.

AD

The overall bill with language on both sides of the issue failed. But both sides have continued to do battle, and the debate is only likely to intensify in Orlando’s wake.

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King has now waded into the fight, attempting to block Obama’s discrimination ban through a proposal to the defense spending bill scheduled to be considered this week. Maloney and Pittenger have also reintroduced their amendments.

AD

The decision to limit amendments has opened Ryan and other GOP leaders to intense criticism from Democrats who have framed the move as a party-wide rebuke of the LGBT community.