The House floor exploded in chaos Tuesday after a bill that would have barred federal contractors from government work if they discriminate against the LGBT community failed by one vote.
Inadvertently channeling a scene from HBO’s Game of Thrones, Democratic advocates of the bill started chanting “shame” after Republicans whipped some last-minute vote switches to block the bill 213-212.
“The members who switched are going to hold a very special place in American history as the people who didn’t have the guts to stand up and support the will of the House,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who put in the anti-LGBT discrimination amendment, Politico reports. “They literally snatched discrimination out of the jaws of equality.”
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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com