ENDA was reintroduced in the 112th Congress today as HR 1397, with 92 fewer co-sponsors than when the 111th Congress closed, according to the Washington Blade.
Why are there 92 fewer co-sponsors, and what does this mean?
There are many factors at play here, as usual in human affairs. According to Harry Gural, Barney Frank's spokesperson, 111 is a great result, given the Democrats' losses in the last election.
Is it? Are the 92 those who are no longer in Congress? By comparing the list of co-sponsors of the newly-introduced ENDA to the list of those who had signed on last time and running those through Wikipedia to see who was not re-elected, we find that 57 current Members of the House, who had signed on as co-sponsors last time around (or indicated that they would vote in favor), are missing as co-sponsors from the current ENDA. Thus, it is likely that, for most of these 57, the press of other business crowded out the call for co-sponsors. If these 57 signed on again, as is likely at some point, the number of co-sponsors would be up to 168. That would be a very respectable number. It is also not unlikely that, at some point, Democrats will again be in the majority in Congress, and passage of ENDA is likely at some time in the future.
The names and contact info of the missing House members are listed here by state, in case you want more information on their positions.
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*These members did not co-sponsor, but they or their offices indicated at some point that they would support the bill.
