NBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Senator Merkley, thanks very much for being with us. It`s nice to have you here.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Oh, you`re welcome, Rachel. It`s great to be with you.

MADDOW: So, 17 years ago was the last time this nondiscrimination issue was voted on in the Senate. It lost by one vote 17 years ago.

Why are you on a path to pass it in the Senate right now, do you think?

MERKLEY: Well, the difference now is that that vote 17 years ago, we only needed a simple majority or 50 plus the vice president. We lost 49-50 because one senator was absent. And now, we have to get 60 votes, both to close debate to get on the bill.

And I should clarify, tonight we just broke the filibuster to get on to the bill. We`ll have to break another filibuster to get to a final vote.

MADDOW: Oh, wow.

MERKLEY: So, we have amendments in between. We`re not there yet. But I do hope that what happens this week in the Senate will provide the momentum that we`ll finally as a nation say you should be able to get hired and not get fired without your sexual identity being the issue.

MADDOW: When you have done the personal lobbying that you have done of your colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, and when you have seen Republicans who support this legislation lobby their colleagues about casting a vote in the same way that you did today, what are the arguments that are persuading them? Why are people like Pat Toomey and Kelly Ayotte and Rob Portman and Mark Kirk and these other Republicans able to come along when the rest of their colleagues on the Republican side aren`t?

MERKLEY: One of the real concerns was religious exemption, and we anchored it in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and that`s answered a lot of the concerns that they had about balancing religious organizations and this issue of employment discrimination. By taking the standard of the Civil Rights Act, that helped a lot.

The only thing they were really worried about we lawsuits, and by looking at those 21 states you referred to and their record, we find that lawsuits do not materialize in surprising numbers or cause a real problem for business, and thus, businesses are very much on board with nondiscrimination.

So, those have been two key factors in bringing this together.

MADDOW: What do you make of the argument from the house leadership that they are not going to allow a vote on this on their side of Capitol Hill because they believe it`s legally unnecessary? They believe it already is illegal to fire someone for sexual orientation or sexual identity. I have to admit that I was struck by the strangeness of this as a factual assertion.

MERKLEY: It`s one of the most astounding things I`ve ever heard. To have it be perfectly legal to fire somebody in 29 states of this nation because of their sexual orientation and then to have somebody say those 29 states don`t really have those laws? But they do.

MADDOW: Yes.

MERKLEY: And it`s why we`ve been having this conversation for, it`s almost 40 years since Bella Abzug first introduced this in the House of Representatives, 39 years this year. And millions of Americans have been denied the opportunity to have full pursuit of happiness or equality under the Constitution because of these laws, and it`s time to put an end to this kind of discrimination, because it affects not only the individuals and their ability to fulfill their dreams, but it affects the promise of all of America when the potential of individuals is compromised.

MADDOW: Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, you have been a very clear voice on the subject. I know you have fought hard on this.

Congratulations on today`s procedural vote and keep in touch with us this week as this moves forward.

MERKLEY: Very good. Sure will. Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: Thanks very much, Senator Merkley.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source