The Party Of Lincoln.

The other day Speaker of the House denounced their presidential candidate’s remarks as racist and said the Party of Lincoln does not discriminate.

Later in the week the Speaker had this to say,

Ryan moves to prevent another floor fight on LGBT rights
The Washington Post
By Kelsey Snell
June 9, 2016

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Wednesday took the first steps to prevent Democrats from forcing votes on sensitive political issues, such as protections for LGBT individuals.

The Wisconsin Republican asked members at weekly closed-door GOP conference to weigh in on plans to restrict amendments on spending bills after Democrats recently forced a nasty fight over a measure to bar the government from paying federal contractors that discriminate based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The amendment, offered by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), sparked intense infighting among Republicans but was adopted with the support of Democrats and some GOP members.

Republican leaders are worried that similar floor fights could derail their effort to pass as many spending bills as possible ahead of the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The proposal would require members to submit amendments ahead of floor consideration of appropriations bills and the House Rules Committee would then determine which would receive a vote. The process would violate Ryan’s pledge to maintain a more open spending process where amendments could be offered freely, but many conservatives said it would be a small price to pay in order to prevent Democrats from forcing political votes.

On Wednesday night the Rules Committee said it would not allow a vote on the Maloney LGBT amendment to a spending bill that would fund the operations of Congress. That bill is one of a small number of annual spending bills that has typically been subject to a limited number amendments under existing House rules.

What brought about the change in House rules was the Democratic rebuttal to this amendment,

Russell amendment to defense bill becomes battlefront in culture war
The Oklahoman
By Chris Casteel
Published: May 29, 2016

WASHINGTON — Late last month, as the House Armed Services Committee worked on the annual defense policy bill, U.S. Rep. Steve Russell offered a very brief amendment.

That amendment, which was approved by the committee, and is part of the defense bill that passed the House earlier this month, may have been short. But it was anything but simple.

It has become a battlefront in the mostly partisan culture war in Washington. Skirmishes over it have left the House floor in chaos.

The amendment said,

Any branch or agency of the Federal Government shall, with respect to any religious corporation, religious association, religious educational institution, or religious society that is a recipient of or offeror for a Federal Government contract, subcontract, grant, purchase order, or cooperative agreement, provide protections and exemptions consistent with sections 702(a) and 703(e)(2) of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-1(a) and 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(e)(2)) and section 103(D) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 USC 12113(D)).

It would have overturned President Obama’s executive order barring discrimination by federal contractors.

The Democrats then introduced an amendment that would have affirmed President Obama’s executive order and when it looked like the bill would pass with the amendment te Republicans did something amazing. The Bay Area Reporter described the votes as…

Pelosi blasted Republicans for "targeting LGBT Americans" in the National Defense Authorization Act. The language for that nullification came from Congressman Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma), and Republican leadership fought vigorously to preserve it in the overall bill, even to the point of ignoring the clock on a vote for Maloney's amendment to kill the language.

Initially, 35 Republicans voted for Maloney's amendment. Along with the support of 182 Democrats, the amendment had 217 votes for and 202 against.

"After it was clear that the amendment was passing," said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) in a news release, "House Republican leaders held the two-minute vote open for nearly eight minutes while they urged their members to change their votes and defeat the amendment."

As the clock reached four seconds remaining, one of the Republican "yea" votes dropped off and the "nays" increased to 205. At zero "time remaining" to vote, another Republican voted "yea," putting the winning tally back to 217. Two minutes after the clock had run out, the Republican presiding over the vote still had not declared the final vote and suddenly two more Republican "yeas" appeared while two dropped from the "nay" column.

At this point, voices on the floor began booing. According to Hoyer's account, these were Democrats booing the Republican chair's failure to call the vote. Within another two minutes, more voices joined in a chant of "Shame, shame, shame" as the number of Republican "yea" votes dropped to 30 and the vote on the amendment stood at 213-212. Moments later, the vote dropped to 212 "yea" and 213 "nay," and the presiding officer banged his gavel and announced the amendment had failed.

Hoyer immediately complained to the presiding officer that the vote count changed even though no Republican went to the front of the House floor to change his or her vote.

The Republicans have only what was once thought science fiction, the ability to stop time. They stopped the clock so that the spending bill would be defeated.

Yes, the Republicans do not believe in discrimination unless it is against LGBT people, or Latinos, or Blacks, or…