Democrats and Republicans continue to butt heads over federal LGBT protections.
On Thursday, an amendment that would have banned companies that discriminate against LGBT individuals from being contracted by the government and receiving taxpayer money failed.
It was introduced by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-New York, and was a response to the House passing a major defense bill that would reverse an executive order that protects LGBT employees from discrimination.
Originally, it appeared the amendment would pass 217-206 but a few seconds later the numbers had changed to 212-213.
Outrage erupted with many members chanting “shame, shame, shame,” after the amendment failed and accusations that Republican leaders pressured other members to change their vote.
Visibly upset members spoke out about the decision.
Whip Steny Hoyer, a House Democrat from Maryland, said on the floor, “I was standing in the well and no one came and no one had the courage to come into the well to change their vote, but notwithstanding that, the vote kept changing. Mr. Speaker, from a parliamentary perspective, how is that possible?”
Maloney spoke out against the House majority leader saying, “Kevin McCarthy was personally twisting arms on the floor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that craven and that ugly in my time in Congress.”
He also told reporters that when he approached McCarthy and asked him to conclude the vote, Maloney was told to “get back on my own side” of the room.
It was confirmed that the vote was originally scheduled to last two minutes but actually stayed open for 8 minutes, allowing for people to change their votes without others knowing.
Twenty nine Republicans did not change their votes, remaining supportive of the amendment.
Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of California said he was disappointed about the results. He also added that after the vote, Illinois Republican Rep. Bob Dold said what happened was “bullshit”.
Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, said, “House Republicans are so committed to discriminating against LGBT Americans, that they broke regular order to force their Members to reverse their votes and support Republicans’ bigotry.”
Many members quickly started comparing the House to GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, with tweets similar to Rep. Dan Kildee’s saying, “House GOP shows their true colors. They support hate and are one in the same with their leader @realDonaldTrump.