Tammy Baldwin in the News

When U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan and Tammy Baldwin join forces to push legislation through the House of Representatives, it suggests remarkable agreement across the political divide.  Ryan, a conservative Republican from Janesville, and Baldwin, a liberal Democrat from Madison, are co-sponsors of the Free Flow of Information Act that cleared the House on Tuesday with a huge majority vote of 398-21.

Now the Senate, which has already passed similar legislation out of committee, needs to quickly send to the president this much-needed protection for the public's right to know what its government is up to...

"LGBT organizations and community activists continued to rally after last week's bruising intra-community battle over whether to seek a vote on a version of ENDA that includes only sexual orientation protection or insist that the legislation retain its protection for people based on gender identity...

...Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), one of two openly gay members of Congress who are leading efforts to pass pro-LGBT legislation, broke her public silence on the controversy this week.  Baldwin said she is putting '100 percent' of her effort into 'making sure [we] have the support necessary to pass a transgender inclusive bill...'" 

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) this week postponed plans to bring a revised version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, to vote in the House without protection for transgender persons, following a groundswell of opposition from gay activists...

...Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only open lesbian in Congress, said she agrees with Pelosi's assessment that Democrats don't have enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive version of ENDA.  But Baldwin has told gay leaders she informed Pelosi that she favors taking a vote on a trans-inclusive bill because it would inform the community of which members support or oppose the legislation.

Baldwin told the Blade this week that the controversy that erupted last week over whether the House should vote on a sexual orientation-only bill appears to have prompted more gays and transgender persons to contact their members of Congress in support of a trans-inclusive ENDA...'I would say that there is significant evidence that the community's activity over the last week has had a significant impact on Congress,' Baldwin said.  'I want to make sure that this continues unabated...'"