Hoyer: GOP Created Environment of Radicalism, Fear, Exclusion & Donald Trump is the Result

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke at a press conference today with House Democratic leaders to discuss how Donald Trump’s poisonous rhetoric echoes the long-standing policy positions of House Republicans. Whip Hoyer discussed the connection between Donald Trump and House Republicans’ anti-LGBT record. Below is a transcript of his remarks: 

“Thank you very much Leader [Pelosi].

“The Republicans have created an environment of radicalism, fear, and exclusion. Their presumptive nominee is the result of their work, and what they have sowed they are now reaping.

“Tomorrow, House Republicans will welcome Donald Trump to Capitol Hill, someone who supports legislation to allow businesses to refuse services to LGBT people and their families—segregation revisited. But this is nothing new, as the Leader has said. In fact, House Republicans have been supporting policies that expressly discriminate against Americans based on who they are or who they love.

“House Republicans spent $2.5 million in taxpayer funds to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act in federal courts, losing every single case, including finally at the Supreme Court. They are going to lose their case with the American people in just a few months.

“Representative Louie Gohmert, who you saw on the television, defended North Carolina’s discriminatory law, saying that when he was young he wouldn’t have been able to resist ‘the temptation’ to enter a girls bathroom. Representative Steve King of Iowa sponsored a resolution in the wake of last year’s historic Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality that would have condemned the decision as ‘unconstitutionally and indefensibly perverting the definition of marriage.’

“Two weeks ago, all but two House Republicans in the [House] Armed Services Committee voted for an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would overturn President Obama’s executive order extending anti-discrimination protections for all LGBT employees of federal contractors. In other words, let federal contractors discriminate.

“Such statements and actions are not, are not, a reflection of what America stands for, but what we fought against time and time again. The American people don’t support policies that discriminate, which is why we are here today, to make sure that they know exactly what Donald Trump and House Republicans stand for and have stood for. And I now yield to my dear friend, the Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.”

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Whip Hoyer in response to a question on whether or not Speaker Ryan will condemn the rhetoric of Donald Trump and refuse to support him as the Republican nominee:

“Let me just add that the meeting tomorrow will not change the environment that has been created over decades, as Mr. Clyburn pointed out. And we will see what Mr. Ryan ultimately does. Nice words are nice. Action and rejecting exclusion and prejudice and radicalism is what, however, the country needs.”