Forty-eight senators and 148 representatives have signed a letter calling on Obama to sign an executive order providing workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
"We are writing to urge you to fulfill the promise in your State of the Union address to make this a 'year of action' and build upon the momentum of 2013 by signing an executive order banning federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. As you have said before, 'now is the time to end this kind of discrimination, not enable it."
Jeff Merkley (OR), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Tom Harkin (IA) organized the effort in the Senate. The LGBT Equality Caucus did so in the House.
Who in the Democratic caucus didn’t sign?
In the Senate, there were 7 non-signers:
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Angus King (I-ME)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Harry Reid (D-NV)
John Walsh (D-MT)
Reid traditionally does not sign such letters. The rest of them deserve no such pass. Interestingly, Bennet is the chair of the DSCC.
And now to the House.
148 Democrats signed the letter. One of them is Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), who cannot vote. There are 199 voting members of the caucus. That gives us 52 non-signers among the voting members of the caucus.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi does not traditionally sign such letters, and she is one of the 52. Xavier Becerra, the chairman of House Democratic caucus, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, did not sign. I don’t know if they have any similar reasons for doing so, but Steny Hoyer (House Minority Whip) and Steve Israel (chair of the DCCC) did sign.
So that leaves us with 49 more.
Strangely, a large number of the non-signers are members of the Congressional Black Caucus—17, including the chair Marcia Fudge.
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Corrine Brown (FL-05)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
Danny Davis (IL-07)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
Robin Kelly (IL-02)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Bobby Scott (VA-03)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
The remaining 32 are—for the most part—fairly conservative Democrats:
John Barrow (GA-12)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
John Carney (DE)
Jim Cooper (TN-04)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
John Dingell (MI-12)
Bill Enyart (IL-12)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Daniel Lipinski (IL-03)
Ben Luján (NM-03)
Doris Matsui (CA-06)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Gloria Negrette McLeod (CA-35)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Ed Pastor (AZ-07)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Pete Visclosky (IN-01)