Top Dem asks House GOP leadership for rules changes

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) asked Republican leadership to establish rules in the new Congress allowing delegates floor votes and barring discrimination against homosexual staffers.

Hoyer made the requests to House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) in two letters Friday.

{mosads}Under Hoyer’s proposal, delegates from the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and Northern Mariana Islands, as well as the Puerto Rico resident commissioner, would  be allowed to vote when the House is in the Committee of the Whole House.

That would allow the delegates who can cast votes in committee, but not on the floor, to vote on amendments. But their votes would not count in the event of a tie. Such a rule has been allowed under Democratic majorities in the last 20 years.

Hoyer argued it would allow the delegates a way — albeit limited — to provide the input of their constituents.

“The extension of the right to vote in the Committee of the Whole shows them a respect for their status and for the millions of Americans they represent,” Hoyer wrote.

The Maryland Democrat also requested a formal rule prohibiting discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender staffers.

“Absent such protections, LGBT employees of the House of Representatives can be denied job opportunities, summarily fired, or otherwise discriminated against solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Hoyer wrote.

Negotiations have been ongoing over the contents of the rules package. The House will vote on the package when it convenes for the new Congress on Jan. 6.