Rep. Virginia Foxxxxxxxxx is hard at work making sure
illegal stuff is even more illegaler
Via Think Progress, Rep. Virginia Foxxxxxxxxx is at it again. This time, she wants to tack on an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill (HR 2219) to authorize the Department of Defense to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act. Which it already does, of course, but she wants to make extra super-duper sure that gay members of the military really, really, really are denied all benefits that "opposite-sex married couples" are guaranteed:
The proposed amendment would reaffirm Congress’ expectation that funds shall not be used for benefits, such as housing, education, medical services, transportation, etc., for same-sex couples on the same basis as opposite-sex married couples.
Even though the DOD already denies these benefits to same-sex couples under DOMA, Foxxxxxxxxx is thinking ahead and planning for hypothetical contingencies in which—heaven forbid—the courts acknowledge that discriminating against gay servicemen and women is, you know, illegal:
It is not enough for the Department of Defense to dismiss all concerns about this and many other issues involving marriage status and benefits by pointing to the existence of the DOMA. There is no contingency “Plan B” to deal with this issue if federal courts invalidate that law.
But hey, it's not like Foxxxxxxxxx wants to make it extra super-duper clear that the DOD should not grant benefits to gay couples because she hates gay people. She's already done plenty to demonstrate that—like voting against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. And sponsoring a bill to amend the Constitution to say that marriage is between one man and one woman. And of course giving her noxious speech against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act:
I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.
But this bill isn't about hating on gay people. Nope, this is about how gosh darned expensive it would be for the DOD if it had to suddenly start treating everyone equally:
Given the potentially enormous cost of extending marriage benefits to same-sex couples and their dependents, Congress can and should enact a policy making it clear that Defense Department funds should not be used in ways that violate federal law: the Defense of Marriage Act.
And that's why Congress needs to act fast to pass yet another law to ensure that something that is already illegal is even more illegaler. Because we certainly wouldn't want equal rights for all Americans, particularly those willing to sacrifice their lives for their country, to cost us money.