President Hopes to Sign Legislation Soon to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Domestic Partners of Federal Employees
Photo: President Barack Obama listens to a point being made during a meeting in the Oval Office (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
By DMITRY RASHNITSOV
Hoping to give congress a nudge in the right direction, President Barack Obama has sent out a memo to all legislators, asking them to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, a bill that would allow LGBT federal employees to give their unrecognized same-sex spouses and partners health insurance, life insurance, government pensions, and other employment related benefits and obligations that married heterosexual federal employees enjoy by being married and heterosexual.
“Last year, I issued a Presidential Memorandum that instructed the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State to extend certain available benefits they had identified to gay & lesbian federal employees and their families under their respective jurisdictions,” Obama wrote. “I called upon the federal agencies to undertake a comprehensive review and to identify any additional benefits that could be extended to the same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees under existing law. That process has now concluded.”
If the bill passes, it would also extend benefits to heterosexual domestic partners, even if they are not married.
“My administration continues to be prevented by existing Federal law from providing same-sex domestic partners with the full range of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples,” Obama wrote. “That is why, today, I renew my call for swift passage of an important piece of legislation pending in both Houses of Congress—the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act. This legislation, championed by Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, would extend to the same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees the full range of benefits currently enjoyed by Federal employees’ opposite-sex spouses. I look forward to signing it into law.”
The history of this bill, is similar to many other pieces of LGBT legislation, it is introduced and then it languishes in congress.
The bill was originally introduced by Rep. Baldwin in the house and Sen. Lieberman in the Senate in December 2007, but it died in committee in September 2008 without ever coming to a full vote. It was reintroduced in May 2009 in both houses, and cleared out of committee’s by the end of last year.
Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) indicated that he believes supporters of the act “have a shot” at passing the bill. Neither branch of Congress has scheduled the bill for a vote yet.
