The GOP hypocrites are at it again... no bias laws for them

[fishface]

GOP seeks exemption to bias law
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | January 15, 2005

WASHINGTON -- House Republican leaders want to exempt members of Congress from laws against discrimination that apply to private employers, despite the Republicans' Contract With America pledge that ''all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress" and a decade-old law that placed Congress under antidiscrimination statutes.

Last week, in response to a discrimination lawsuit filed against a Democratic House member, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, majority leader Tom DeLay, and majority whip Roy Blunt submitted a ''friend of the court" brief on behalf of the House, saying members of Congress should be shielded from discrimination suits.

They said the Constitution protects representatives' ability to study and craft legislation with the staff members they choose, regardless of laws that prohibit employment decisions based on factors such as age, race, gender, and disabilities.

But Democratic House leaders refused to sign off on the House brief, saying that if the court accepts that reasoning, the 10-year-old Congressional Accountability Act would be rendered meaningless. That law, passed shortly after the Republican takeover of Congress in 1995 and designed on the first plank of the Contract with America, specifically stated that Congress should be covered by the same statutes against discrimination that apply to private-sector employers.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/01/15/gop_seeks_exemption_to_bias_law/