Hate-crimes provision stripped from defense bill

House and Senate votes on the 2008 defense authorization bill could be held as early as next week after conferees agreed Thursday to strip from the bill a controversial provision extending hate-crimes protections to gays.

House and Senate negotiators agreed to strip Senate language that extended federal hate-crimes law to cover violence against gays after weeks of wrangling. Earlier this week, GOP members of the House Armed Services Committee said they would not sign the conference report if the provision was included.

{mosads}President Bush had threatened to veto the bill if it included the hate-crimes language, and conferees from both sides of the aisle and both chambers had warned that the Senate provision would jeopardize the passage of the entire defense authorization bill, which includes policies designed to help wounded soldiers and increase military pay.

The provision had been adopted by voice vote in the Senate, but in the House, Armed Services leaders worried they did not have enough votes to pass the defense authorization bill with the hate-crimes provision included.