Tammy Baldwin

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member Collins, for affording me the opportunity to testify, for having this historic hearing, and for your leadership on the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act.

We lost an engineering professor to another university that did offer domestic partnership benefits because of his feeling that the lack of those policies was unjust.

I strongly believe that we must address the significant inequality in compensation experienced by an estimated 30,000 employees.

As it stands, some Federal employees do not receive equal compensation and benefits for their equal contributions.

Historically, the Federal Government has been a leader in offering important benefits to its employees. But today we are lagging behind, and this is particularly true regarding the extension of benefits to employees with same-sex partners.

Government should work for us, not against us.

Being treated so unfairly now because of who I love is more than a matter of fairness; it is an issue of civil rights.

It is disturbing and demoralizing to be treated as a second-class citizen and worker.

The government to which I have devoted 33 years of my working life will not honor my partnership because I love another woman, not a man.

This issue is hard only because we make it so.

We have families that we love, that we need to take care of, just as you do.

First, principle is at stake. Equality, fair mindedness, and respect for diversity are at the heart of America's identity.

Mr. Chairman, I was reluctant to relive before this committee the most painful chapter of my life, the decision to leave a career that I love.

LGBT Americans are not demanding so-called special rights, as some claim, through this or any other bill.

You see, the issue we are here to address is not about personal belief, and it is not the definition of marriage.

As a diplomat, I advanced American principles of equality, fair play, and respect for diversity in the countries to which I was posted;

I regard this as an issue of equal compensation both in pay and benefits, but predominantly, we're looking at benefits for equal work.

Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, even those same-sex couples who are afforded the right to marry in certain States would not have those marriages recognized currently at the Federal level.

We've had a researcher from the engineering school leave the State with an NSF grant that totaled more than it would have cost to implement the domestic partnership benefits State-wide in Wisconsin because of the indignity of the unequal…

This bill shows that we recognize the value of every American and their families and their relationships.

The need to consider providing domestic partners' benefits to Federal employees should also be evaluated in light of the potential positive impacts that such policies can have on the Federal Government's recruitment and retention…

This inequality exists on the Federal level despite the significant expansion in the availability of employment-related benefits and equal treatment for domestic partners.

You are not misreading that, but as Director Berry indicated, in their review of the legislation, OPM has come up with a number of technical recommendations, and that would be one.

It made much more sense to create this mechanism to provide the employment fringe benefits, and that's what this bill is limited to.

The Federal employee who is in a same-sex partnership, whether they are married, in a marriage recognized at their State level or not, would have to file an affidavit of eligibility relating to their domestic partnership in order to…