Today, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) pulled out of the race to be speaker of the House. McCarthy announced his withdrawal during a meeting in which the House Republican Conference was scheduled to pick its candidate for speaker, reports The Huffington Post. The election for the Republican candidate for the next speaker has also been postponed. “If we are…
In the wake of House Speaker John Boehner’s announcement of his retirement at the end of the month, political insiders think that his second in command, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has the inside track to take the gavel. That may be true, but McCarthy would be wiser to keep his current job and elect a…
This post first appeared on The Huffington Post Blog. What the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) controversies have underscored is the need to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act established classes that are protected from discrimination: race, color, religion, sex and national origin. For…
Candidate Carl DeMaio recently released a campaign commercial in which he opens with the statement, “As a proud gay American, I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. But a Tea Party extremist? Nothing could be further from the truth.” Carl DeMaio has made quite the evolution. He has evolved from a politician…
Dear Candidate Faulconer: This second part of my open letter to you was to be focused on how you should break with your Republican Party with respect to LGBT civil rights. Events over the last couple of weeks have made me expand the focus of this letter. First, the Duck Dynasty controversy revealed the true…
WASHINGTON – Buzzfeed reports that House Speaker John Boehner today secured meeting space for the top American supporters of Russia’s anti-LGBT laws. The news comes after Sen. Mark Kirk withdrew their original meeting space with a spokesperson saying, “Senator Kirk will not host groups that advance a hateful agenda.” The World Congress of Families –…
WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner has again offered a false and factually inaccurate explanation for why he won’t support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) – which passed the Senate one week ago with bipartisan support from 10 Republicans. Boehner re-iterated his opposition to the legislation that would simply protect hardworking lesbian, gay, bisexual and…
Members of the House of Representatives have offices in three buildings, each of which is named after a former speaker: Sam Rayburn, Nicholas Longworth and Joseph Gurney Cannon. When a fourth building is needed, I have little doubt it will be the “Nancy Pelosi House Office Building.” Not just because she was the first woman…
(CNN) — The R-rated insult House Speaker John Boehner hurled upon Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week at the White House was a deviation from the normally diplomatic language of official Washington. After all, it isn’t every day that reports emerge of a top lawmaker telling another to “Go f*** yourself.” But it’s certainly…
(CNN) — After exhaustive negotiations that strained the country’s patience, the House approved a bill to avert the dreaded fiscal cliff, staving off widespread tax increases and deep spending cuts. In the 257-167 vote late Tuesday, 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans favored the bill; 16 Democrats and 151 Republicans opposed it. The approved plan maintains…
