At a Democratic press briefing promoting the Equality Act, lawmakers took questions from reporters.
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00:00Do folks have any?
00:03Yes.
00:04Hi, Senator.
00:05A few of you mentioned there is an upsell battle with getting this legislation through.
00:09How do you plan to talk about this with your Republican colleagues and what is the strategy to advance this?
00:15You know, the question, if you couldn't hear, was how do we plan to talk about this with our Republican colleagues?
00:20As Tammy Baldwin was saying, she had very explicit conversations, very open conversations.
00:25The Republican Party at one point was founded on the notion of fairness, to fight against discrimination against black Americans, to fight against slavery.
00:34And we know when we passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the Senate that we had partners across the aisle who said discrimination is wrong.
00:42We passed it with more than 60 votes.
00:44We sent it to the House and it was not brought to the floor or it might have passed at that point.
00:48Now we have this expanded bill.
00:50If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts.
00:56You can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty.
01:00You can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing.
01:04And so we're going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.
01:09Join us as you joined us back in 2013 when we passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
01:14I don't know if anyone from the House side would like to speak to that.
01:16Sure.
01:16So Senator Baldwin talked about the conversation she had with her Senate Republican colleagues.
01:23But I can tell you in the House, when we passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, there was no expectation that we would have, I forget how many it was, Nancy, like 30 or 40 Republicans vote for the bill.
01:37We thought we were just putting forward some legislation in response to what Justice Clarence Thomas opined in one of his, one of the decisions, the court.
01:48So he welcomed cases to revisit what he felt were wrongly held decisions.
01:53You know, that wasn't really about conversations we had with colleagues.
01:59That was about a change that had happened in our country.
02:03Those 30 or 40 Republicans that voted with the Democrats in a surprising way, which gave it momentum in the Senate,
02:10was Republicans reflecting a change of heart in their districts.
02:16And so I say that the work that we need to do is to also, as Speaker Emeritus has always taught me, that public sentiment is everything.
02:29That now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because really the Congress is a reflection of the people.
02:38So, Speaker Emeritus, would you like to comment on this?
02:41Well, I'd like to, because we passed it twice in the House, and we were optimistic that there would be something that could be done in the Senate.
02:49And keeping with what Senator Merkley said and what the Distinguished Chairman Takano said about this,
02:55we thought corporate America, because they said they were supportive of this, would weigh in on the Senate,
03:02respectful of their own employees, high-ranking employees in their corporations.
03:09We said, when we were overseas, when we were in Singapore, we said to the people, the businesses that were there,
03:15if you want the best, you better be for legislation like this, so that people can freely participate openly.
03:24So, I do think there's still an opportunity, well, they're in a little different place right this minute,
03:31but there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in for their own employees, if they want the very best.
03:39They will be helpful with the Equality Act, and that is what we anticipated in the House,
03:45and that they might be true to some of the things they were telling us, and act upon those beliefs.
03:52Corporate America.
03:54Thank you, and I would say, you know, corporate America is part of that public sentiment we're talking about,
03:59and I was with the Speaker of America when we spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore on that trip to Taiwan,
04:08and by the way, Taiwan is the leading nation in Asia for LGBTQI rights, very proudly so,
04:16but again, I agree with her, corporate America is a huge voice in the advancement.
04:23The advancement, so much has changed within corporate America, the vice presidents, the executives,
04:30and the very workforce is demanding equality as well.
04:34I'd like to say, when we were in Singapore, when we went there, one of our tasks given to us by Mr. Takano
04:41was that we would advocate to change the law there, because to have a same-sex relationship was not,
04:49well, it was illegal, unspoken, but not legal in Singapore.
04:57A week after we left, they changed the law.
04:59They changed the law, because corporate America wanted the very best, even in Singapore.
05:05Any other questions that we might have?
05:08Yes.
05:09I'm wondering if anyone can speak to the decisions due to this today, on the president's mandate on this?
05:14You know, sometimes, I don't know there was a conscious decision, but, I mean, look at this beautiful day.
05:24It's a beautiful day to stand up for equality, and, you know, I think the president's clearly hitting the wall
05:32that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, we didn't vote for this.
05:37Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it's a great day to remind them that, you know,
05:44what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union.
05:50This is the march toward a more perfect union.
05:52That's what most Americans believe in.
05:53And it's a great day, on this hundredth day, to remind our administration what the right side of history is.
06:02Yes, go ahead.
06:03The balance of power and capital will have shifted a lot since the American Equality Act.
06:07Do you still believe there's a path forward to the Equality Act in the current African-American community?
06:12The question was whether there's still a path forward in this particular Congress at this moment.
06:18Well, the path forward is in the conversation with communities across this nation.
06:22My Republican colleagues in the Senate are not wanting to put the Equality Act on the floor, as they want truth.
06:28But we're going to continue advancing that conversation.
06:31And I think about my daughter, who said to me when I talked to her first about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and then about the Equality Act,
06:40she said, but, Dad, discrimination is already illegal.
06:44Why?
06:45I don't understand.
06:46And I think much of America already believes that we put discrimination in our past.
06:52We are reminding them that that is not the case.
06:55As we heard from the advocates, discrimination is alive and well.
06:58Discrimination is being encouraged by some of the leaders in the Republican Party.
07:02But we're here to say that that is wrong.
07:05And we're going to keep amplifying this conversation inside the halls of Congress with our advocates and communities all across this nation until we pass this bill.
07:14And look, on the 100th day of this administration, it's not just about what we're against and what we're opposed.
07:24This is what we're for.
07:25And this is what most Americans are for.
07:27And it's an important marker on the ground.
07:29And we need to make sure that all Americans know that we're fighting for what they believe in.
07:33I want to thank you all very much and close by saying our advocates back here.
07:38Can you all hold those signs high?
07:40Let's pass the Equality Act and restore and end discrimination and restore fairness in America.
07:45Thank you all very much.