A bill that seeks to provide equal benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees passed an important test in Congress last week.
The Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act cleared the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a 23-12 vote Nov. 18 and will now proceed to the House floor for a vote.
Jerilyn Goodman, spokesperson for the bill’s prime sponsor, openly gay U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), said the bill is anticipated to come up for a full House vote before Congress breaks for the holidays in December.
Baldwin introduced the bill in May with 64 cosponsors. The number of cosponsors has since more than doubled to 135.
The measure would provide same-sex domestic partners of federal employees the same rights that married spouses currently enjoy — including long-term care, family and medical-leave and retirement benefits — as well as require them to follow the same procedures, such as abiding by anti-nepotism rules and financial-disclosure guidelines.
Baldwin noted that the committee passage brings the federal government one step closer to falling in line with many corporate employers, including 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies that employ similar policies.
“This vote marks another significant step in our march toward LGBT equality,” Baldwin said in a statement last week. “Extending benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees is more than a matter of fairness. As a majority of Fortune 500 companies have already demonstrated, equality and diversity in the workplace boost productivity and help attract and keep the most qualified employees.”
Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said the vote is an “important step toward guaranteeing equal compensation for lesbian and gay workers serving our government at home and abroad,” and that the bill recognizes that equal pay for equal work is a “value fundamental to American opportunity.”
The committee vote was split along party lines, with all Democrats, including Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-11th Dist.), voting in favor of it and all Republicans opposed.
During the debate, several Republicans argued that the measure has the underlying goal of redefining marriage, and Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) contended the bill bestows “costly new benefits to a select class of federal employees.”
The Office of Personnel Management previously released an estimate that the bill would cost approximately $56 million to implement, which works out to about .2 percent of the total federal health-insurance program.
However, Issa argued that the bill doesn’t just center on health benefits and could lead to other costs, but committee chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) contended the bill’s total price tag would be “relatively minor.”
Towns went on to say that the committee “has a duty to oversee the federal workforce. The committee is fulfilling that role and taking an important step toward a better, strong and more inclusive workforce by advancing this legislation.”
The committee made several amendments to the bill, including one proposed by conservative Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) that would require the Government Accountability Office to undertake a study two years after the measure’s implementation to analyze if the program increased healthcare premiums for federal employees not in domestic partnerships. The committee also approved an amendment offered by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that mandates a similar report on the bill’s effect on employee recruiting and retention.
The bill was voted out of the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia Subcommittee in July.
Included on the list of House cosponsors are U.S. Reps. from Pennsylvania Joe Sestak (D-7th Dist.), Allyson Schwartz (D-13th Dist.) and Michael Doyle (D-14th Dist.).
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced a companion bill in May in the Senate, which has 25 cosponsors. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing on the measure last month.
U.S. Sens. from Pennsylvania Bob Casey (D) and Arlen Specter (D) are both cosponsors of the bill.
Lieberman and Baldwin both introduced the bills in the last session, but both measures died in committee.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].