A niche policy rider that House Republicans tucked into text for the final appropriations legislation has fanned culture war flames heading into a critical vote on Friday.
Among the provisions included in the $1 trillion minibus legislation is one that seeks to restrict the type of flags flown over State Department facilities, such as American embassies, a flashpoint for socially conservative House GOP members since some embassies began raising the gay pride rainbow flag during the Obama administration.
For House Democrats who are members of the LGBT community, however, the policy rider hits closer to home.
“House Republicans should be ashamed of themselves,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Forcing their own discriminatory views on the men and women serving our country abroad is downright un-American.“
Under the final spending deal to avert a government
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