House Republicans derail LGBTQ, abortion bills Pelosi tried to fast-track

Two controversial bills House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to fast-track through the House failed to reach enough votes on Wednesday to pass.

In an attempt to pass the two bills, HR 1443 and HR 239, Pelosi moved to use the "suspension of the rules" procedure, which requires a two-thirds majority to pass a bill in the house.

HR 1443, or the LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement and Investment Act, would require "financial institutions to report certain credit application data to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the purposes of enforcing fair lending laws. Specifically, financial institutions must report this data regarding lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender-, or queer-owned businesses. Currently, this data is reported regarding women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses," according to the bill's text.

HR 239, or the Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act, would prohibit "the Department of Veterans Affairs from requiring payment from a veteran for any contraceptive item that is required to be covered by health insurance plans without a cost-sharing requirement," the bill states.

HR 1443 failed, with 248 votes in favor to 177 opposed, and an additional five members not voting. HR 239 also failed, with 240 votes for and 188 against, with two members not voting.

Representative Andy Biggs, the House Freedom Caucus chairman, told Breitbart in a phone interview on Wednesday that the blocking of both bills was "stunning."

"What the deal is on these suspension bills, they have to get two thirds to get them across the line," Biggs told Breitbart News. "The significance of taking down the suspension votes is that the Democrats are trying to change all the rules and traditions of the House and force all of their agenda even if it’s not radical — but the radical parts and the non-radical parts — they're trying to force it down our throats."

"Our position has always been that that is — it is that we have to fight on every issue. That's why we ask for roll call votes on the suspension votes because we want transparency for the American public number one, and number two we want everybody to be recorded on how you vote, and number three we want to put the speed stick down. That's what that's been all about," he continued.

Representative Matt Rosendale lauded the Freedom Caucus' efforts to block the bills.

"The failure of these bills shows that the Freedom Caucus strategy to fight the Democratic majority using all the procedure at their disposal is working," Rosendale told Breitbart News. "Combined with members willing to fight for principle, it worked to knock down two Democratic bills last night. One of the bills, which would have facilitated access to abortion drugs, I have been fighting since there were bipartisan efforts to move it through the VA committee. It was good to see the efforts of so many come together and hand the Left a defeat even in the minority."

Biggs said that this was the first time this year that the roll call tactic had successfully brought down bills, adding that now that the tactic has proven to be successful, Democrats may be more open to negotiating with Republicans.

"The underlying thing here is the Democrats do not believe the Republicans are unified enough to take them down and block them. So far, they've been right," Biggs said. "I can't tell you how critical this is in my opinion but by taking those down this is a leverage point to try to restore the balance. Right now they’re abusing us and not doing anything through regular order.

"For instance, they added a bill at the last minute this morning to try to put up. So the reality is that’s what we’re facing. If you don’t fast track it, you slow it down. The other thing is if you start taking some of these down, It gives you leverage points so the Democrats come back to us and say, 'Alright, let’s make a deal.' Maybe, if rationality were to win out, maybe they would come back and say, 'How do we make this thing work?'" Biggs continued.