Senate Committee Approves Bill Extending Benefits to Same Sex Partners of Federal Employees

(National Federation of Federal Employees)

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today passed S. 1910, a bill to extend federal benefits to same sex partners of federal employees.

Formally known as the Federal Employees Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, the newly approved measure seeks to open health, retirement, transportation, and other benefits to federal workers in committed same-sex partnerships. Were the bill to become law, an estimated 30,000 federal workers living in domestic partnerships would be eligible for benefits equal to those currently enjoyed by their heterosexual coworkers.

“This is what progress looks like,” said NFFE National President William R. Dougan. “Gay or straight, federal employees do their jobs every day and deserve to be justly compensated for it. It makes no sense for one federal employee to be eligible for benefits while his coworker in the next room is not. It’s just common sense. We applaud Senators Lieberman and Collins for their leadership on this issue.”

Now that the bill has passed out of committee, it must go before the full Senate for a vote. The measure has yet to be scheduled for a vote, however.