2017: DeSantis Voted Against D.C.’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act. In September 2017, DeSantis voted for an amendment that would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, “prohibit[ed] any funds appropriated by the bill from being used to implement the District of Columbia’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act.” The House adopted the amendment by a vote of 214 to 194. The House later passed the underlying legislation. [House Vote 518, 9/14/17; Congressional Quarterly, 9/14/17; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 432; Congressional Actions, H.R. 3354]
2016: Voted To Prohibit Funding From Being Used To Implement Washington D.C.’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act. In July 2016, DeSantis voted for an amendment that would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, “prohibit[ed] funds from being used to implement the District of Columbia’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act.” The underlying legislation was an FY 2017 financial services appropriations bill. The vote was on the amendment. The House adopted the amendment by a vote of 223 to 192. The House later passed the underlying bill, but the Senate took no substantive action on the legislation. [House Vote 390, 7/7/16; Congressional Quarterly, 7/7/16; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 1259; Congressional Actions, H.R. 5485]
2015: DeSantis Voted To Disapprove Washington D.C.’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act Of 2014, Which Prohibited Employers From Discriminating Based On Individual’s Reproductive Health Decisions. In April 2015, DeSantis voted for a joint resolution that would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, “provide[d] for disapproval and repeal of the District of Columbia’s Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on an individual’s reproductive health decisions.” The vote was on the joint resolution. The House passed the joint resolution by a vote of 228 to 192. The Senate has yet to act on the joint resolution, which because of a 30 day deadline Congress has to overturn D.C. Council-passed bills, renders the legislation moot. [House Vote 194, 4/30/15; Congressional Quarterly, 4/30/15; Congressional Actions, H.J.Res.43; Congressional Quarterly, 4/30/15]
2015: DeSantis Effectively In Committee To Allow Employer Discrimination In Washington, D.C. Based On Their Reproductive Health Decisions. In April 2015, DeSantis effectively voted to allow Washington, D.C. employers to discriminate based on the employees reproductive health care decisions. According to Congressional Quarterly, the vote was “Adopt[ing] a joint resolution of disapproval against a District of Columbia Council-passed measure that would prohibit employers in D.C. from firing or discriminating against workers based on their reproductive health decisions, or the reproductive choices of their spouses and dependents, such as those concerning birth control methods, fertility treatments and other services.” The vote was on the joint resolution. The House Oversight and Government Reform committee agreed to the resolution by a vote of 20 to 16. The legislation was later passed by the full House, but this resolution, nor a related measure was passed by the Senate. [Congressional Quarterly, 4/21/15; Congressional Actions, H.J. Res. 43; Congressional Actions, S.J.Res. 10]
Washington Post Editorial: “What’s Most Striking About The Effort To Upend The Actions Of Locally Elected Officials Is How At Odds It Is With Republican Stances On Federalism.” According to an editorial published by the Washington Post, “Last week, two Republican senators, Ted Cruz of Texas and James Lankford of Oklahoma, introduced resolutions to strike down two District bills passed by the D.C. Council last year. The House may soon follow. ‘We want to take some action in the House too,’ Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the committee with oversight over the District, told Roll Call of the two bills undergoing the 30-day review period required of all D.C. legislation. At issue are the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act, which would prohibit employer discrimination based on reproductive health decisions, and the Human Rights Amendment Act, which would require religiously affiliated universities to comply with the city's law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians. Disapproval resolutions require the backing of a majority of both chambers and the president to take effect. They are rarely successful. But they allow members of Congress to clamber aboard their soapboxes on issues that play to their base. Mr. Cruz introduced the resolutions just before he announced a bid for president that is expected to be built on appeals to conservatives and the religious right . What’s most striking about the effort to upend the actions of locally elected officials is how at odds it is with Republican stances on federalism. The House Republican budget released a day before the resolutions were filed has this passage: ‘America is a diverse nation. Our cities, states and local communities are best equipped and naturally inclined to develop solutions that will serve their populations.’” [Washington Post, 3/24/15]
Washington Post Editorial: Reversing The Legislation Would Be An Infringement “On The City’s Home Rules.” According to an editorial published by the Washington Post, “It's important that House and Senate Democrats, whose votes likely will be needed for passage of a budget, protect the District's interests. It may prove to be too difficult to eliminate the existing riders on abortion and marijuana (although the effort should be made), but under no circumstances should Democrats accept a budget that includes the new rider interfering with the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act, which bars employer discrimination based on reproductive health decisions. Mr. Obama needs to make clear that he would veto any budget that includes additional infringements on the city's home rule. It is, of course, Republicans who are primarily responsible for how D.C. rights and autonomy have been eroded. Especially galling is how they extol the ability of cities and states - rather than the federal government - to devise solutions that best serve their local communities at the same time they upend D.C. laws. We urge newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), whose 16 years in the House have been marked by his support for local control, to end his party's hypocrisy by making clear the District has a right to manage its own affairs without political interference from Congress.” [Editorial – Washington Post, 11/30/15]
Colbert King Column: Vote On Overturning The Act “Is An Outright Abuse Of Power.” According to a column by Colbert King and published by the Washington Post, “Call it what it is: This week's 20-to-16 party-line vote in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to disapprove the District's Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act is an outright abuse of power. True, Congress, by virtue of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, has jurisdiction ‘in all cases whatsoever’ over the District. But the committee's action, prompted by Republican chairman Jason Chaffetz, was an improper use of that authority. Nothing in the reproductive discrimination law adversely affects the federal interest. This D.C. law does not impinge upon citizens in Chaffetz's Utah congressional district or in any other congressional district in the United States.” [Colbert King Column – Washington Post, 4/24/15]