Employment Nondiscrimination Act Set For Monday Night Vote

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told his Democratic caucus on Thursday that he will bring the Employment Nondiscrimination Act up for a vote on Monday, a senior Democratic aide told The Huffington Post.

Reid will file a procedural motion on Thursday evening to begin debate on the bill, setting up a Monday evening vote. The bill needs to get 60 votes to clear a procedural hurdle ahead of the final vote, and as of Thursday, 59 senators publicly support it. Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), whose son is gay, said Tuesday he is "inclined to support" the bill.

Momentum behind the bill, which would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, suddenly picked up this week. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who were the three remaining Democratic holdouts, all jumped aboard in the past few days.

ENDA has been introduced in several other congressional sessions and has gotten some hearings, but it hasn't received a vote on the House or Senate floor since November 2007, when it passed the House 235-184. The bill was introduced in this Congress by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) in the House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the Senate.