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133 House Democrats File Amicus Brief Challenging DOMA

One-hundred and thirty-three members of the 192-strong House Democratic caucus have filed an amicus brief siding with groups challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, saying that the provision denying same-sex married couples federal rights is unconstitutional.

The brief challenges DOMA Section Three, which prohibts federal recognition of same-sex couples and denies all federal benefits such as Social Security and health care.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced the filing yesterday on Twitter. Pelosi and other members who signed the brief argue "that the key section of the law is unconstitutional because it was passed quickly, driven by biases and lacks 'a rational relationship to any legitimate federal purpose,'" reports Politico.

In the brief, the members—including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Reps. Jerry Nadler, John Conyers, Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, among others — state that Congress "acted hastily" when DOMA was enacted.

Among those Democrats signing onto the amicus curiae, 14 members—including Hoye—voted for the bill’s passage in 1996. Reps. Jim Clyburn, Robert Andrews, Earl Blumenauer, Rosa DeLauro, Loyld Doggett, Michael Doyle, Bob Filner, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sander Levin, Nita Lowey, Richard Neal, Ed Pastor and Bobby Rush also supported DOMA in 1996. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee voted present.

The Obama Administration announced in February that it will NOT defend recent lawsuits challenging DOMA. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has hired counsel through the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to defend DOMA's constitutionality.

The brief was co-signed by the entire House Democratic leadership, most of the Progressive Caucus and most of the Congressional Black Caucus, including John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barbara Lee, Jesse Jackson Jr., Chaka Fatah, Emanuel Cleaver and many others.

The brief was filed in the consolidated cases of Massachusetts vs. Department of Health and Human Services and Gill vs. Office of Personnel Management. These were the landmark federal rulings in July 2010 that found DOMA Sec 3 is unconstitutional. The suits were filed by Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which also won the Goodridge case that mandated marriage equality in Massachusetts.

Some Background:
Amended Judgment, Stay Entered in Mass. DOMA Ruling
Obama Admin "Reviewing" Decision; GLAD Expects Appeal
Federal Judge: Section 3 DOMA Unconstitutional

VIDEO: Cleaver Calls Debt Deal a "Sugar Coated Satan Sandwich"

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) has slammed the debt ceiling deal reached between the White House, House Republicans and Senate Democrats. "This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich."

"If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see," the congressman told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. "What you see is antithetical to everything the great religions of the world teach. Which is take care of the poor, take of the aged."

The New York Times calls the solution a "terrible deal". The $2.5 trillion in spending cuts "will hurt programs for the middle class and poor, and hinder an economic recovery.

Nobel Prize winning progressive economist Paul Krugman adds: The bill "is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy."

It's good to see that the CBC and progressives are standing up for the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH LIVE: House Health Care Reform Updates and Votes

UPDATE: By a vote of 219-212, the House passes sweeping and landmark health care reform. Thirty-four Democrats and 178 Republicans voted against it.The bill goes to President Obama to sign into law.

By a vote of 224-206, the House approves the key procedural measure necessary to pass the health care legislation. Watch the debate and vote live AFTER THE JUMP ...

· The Washington Post's FAQ on health care reform: What time is the vote? What is the whip count?

· Speaker Nancy Pelosi will use the same gavel tonight used for the historic 1965 Medicare vote.

· "Obama's motorcade was delayed and as he rode up to Capitol Hill, many protesters demonstrating against the plan booed and gave him a thumbs down.

· Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver identifies the man who spat on him but will not press charges. Meanwhile, after slurs were shouted at congressmen by teabaggers, Capitol Hill Police move protesters away from the House: "By 11 a.m., a crowd of about 100 had gathered, singing patriotic songs and chanting 'kill the bill.' But when police told them they had to move back from the House steps, most moved to the front of the Capitol, with a few stragglers parking out on the grass several hundred feet away."

· Some Republicans denounced the racist and homophobic slurs hurled by teabaggers. On 'Meet the Press', House Minority Leader John Boehner called the episodes "isolated" but they " that were reprehensible and should not have happened." RNC Chairman Michael Steele referred to the protesters as “some stupid people out there saying some very stupid things.

Below: Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) defends the racist and homophobic insults hurled against congressmen. RNC Chairman Steele somewhat denounces them. Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan slams the "ugly" mentality that encouraged protesters to "make slurs on a member's race or sexual orientation."

Watch the debate and vote live AFTER THE JUMP ...

Teabaggers Yell "N____r" at John Lewis, "Faggot" at Barney Frank

At the request of far right-wing, anti-gay Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, hundreds of conservative, "Tea Party" agitators are flooding Capitol Hill. The movement is showing its true colors and racial and homophobic epithets are being thrown at members of Congress, The Hill reports.

"Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside. Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word. Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour."

The scene must have been eerily familiar to John Lewis, who was one of the student leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Lewis was beaten and tear gassed during the infamous "Bloody Sunday" Selma too Montgomery march. 

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) tells The Huffington Post another member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Missouri's Emanuel Cleaver, was spat on by protesters. "It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn tells the Huffington Post. "I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."

And the most prominent openly gay member of Congress was also singled out for special attention, reports say.

"Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave the [Longworth House Office Bldg], an older protestor yelled "Barney, you faggot." The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted in laughter. At one point, Capitol police officer threatened to throw a group of protestors out of the building but that only seemed to inflame them more; and apparently none were ejected."

Protesters inside a Congressional building called a member "faggot" and were not ejected?

Thanks: @KDavis and @Basseyworld

SIXTY Members of Congress to Sebelius: No Public Option, No Bill

No public option, no health care "reform". Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake reports 60 House Democrats—led by Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Lee (CA) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA)—sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius last night, drawing a line in the sand and "making it crystal clear that if there is no public plan coming out of a conference bill, they won't vote for it."

The letter reads in part: "To take the public option off the table would be a grave error; passage in the House of Representatives depends upon inclusion of it.  .. Any legislation that moves forward through both chambers, and into a final proposal for the President's signature, MUST contain a public option."

Signatories include Barney Frank (MA), the powerful gay Banking Committee chair, and strong Congressional Black Caucus LGBT allies such as Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), John Conyers (MI), Alcee Hastings (FL), Maxine Waters (CA), Keith Ellison (MN), Andre Carson (IN) and Emmanuel Cleaver (MO). Is your representative on the list?

Sixty members signed the letter but Rep. Anthony Weiner puts the actual number at "probably around 100."

In related news: Within the last few hours President Obama and Secretary Sebelius have attempted to distance themselves from their weekend remarks where both said a public option is "no longer essential" for health insurance "reform". "Everyone thought the progressives could be taken for granted," writes Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog. "They can't be."

Memo to the White House: At some point, you have to dance with the people who brought you to the party.

UPDATE: Hamsher is on Rachel Maddow right now discussing this. Will post video when available.