Jackie Speier Springs into Action on the LGBT Legislative Agenda
As part of our ongoing series of legislative reports, we at That’s My Congress regularly update our LGBT Equality Caucus scorecard to reflect the performance of members of the LGBT Equality Caucus in supporting bills in the caucus’ own slate. As you might expect for a set of representatives choosing to affiliate themselves with the LGBT Equality Caucus, many of the caucus members have strong records of supporting the 12 bills making up the LGBT Equality slate. But a surprising number number have weak records of support for the bills to actually make a difference in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Americans. Have they not gotten the memo that it takes legislation to change policy in America?
Four weeks ago, when we last updated our LGBT Equality Caucus scorecard, Representative Jackie Speier was one of the underperformers, cosponsoring just 4 out of the 12 pieces of legislation that make up the LGBT slate in the House of Representatives.
Since then, however, Rep. Speier has jumped into action, cosponsoring four more bills in the LGBT equality slate: H.R. 1616 (expanding medicare coverage to include HIV), H.R. 2262 (issuing grants for anti-bullying educational programs), H.R. 2517 (giving same-sex partners of federal workers full equality in benefits), and H.R. 2625 (expanding health coverage tax benefits to same-sex couples).
Jackie Speier hasn’t cosponsored the full slate of 12 bills in the LGBT quiver — but then, no one in the entire caucus has. Representative Speier has moved from a very weak legislative position on LGBT issues to a pretty strong one.
Why?
It appears Representative Speier has responded to a constituent who informed himself about Speier’s performance regarding the LGBT Equality slate, then made an appeal to Speier regarding her performance on specific bills.
Well, what do you know? Sometimes constituent contact works!
Go ahead and try it yourself: consult our current version of the LGBT Equality Caucus scorecard, and find out how your member of Congress fares. Is your representative in Congress listed as a member of the LGBT Equality Caucus? If not, get on the horn and ask him or her to join. If your representative is a caucus member, find out what bills she or he has yet to support, and if those bills are important to you, make your position known. You may be the one who makes a difference.
