WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer teed up a vote to start debate this week on legislation protecting same-sex marriage, after the bill’s sponsors agreed on changes intended to draw enough Republican votes to win passage.
The first procedural vote will be Wednesday on “an extremely important and much-needed bill,” Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “No American should ever be discriminated against because of who they love. Passing this bill would secure much-needed safeguards into federal law.”
The legislation — sponsored by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin as well as Susan Collins, a Maine Republican — would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. That law defined marriage for federal purposes as between a man and a woman and was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The legislation grew out of concerns that the current conservative-leaning Supreme Court could overturn the 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that established the right of same-sex couples to marry. After the high court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion that the court should review other “due process precedents,” including the decision in Obergefell.
The bill would give federal recognition to same-sex and interracial marriages and require interstate recognition of marriages. Under the measure, states could still refuse to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples if the Supreme Court reverses its decision.
Negotiators said Monday they reached an agreement on an amendment designed to attract GOP support for the bill. The new language ensures that the measure will not diminish religious and conscience protections unrelated to marriage. It also clarifies the bill does not authorize the federal government to recognize polygamous marriages.
All Senate Democrats support the bill, but it would need at least 10 GOP votes to get the 60 needed to advance under chamber rules. A handful of Senate Republicans — including Rob Portman of Ohio and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — have said they’re on board and others are expected to join them.
“I’d like to see what amendments come forward if that bill could be married with, no pun intended, with protections for religious liberty,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican. “Then I think it’d have better prospects, and I might be able to vote for the final legislation.”
Iowa Republican Joni Ernst said she is still reviewing the amendment and hasn’t decided if she will support the bill. “I’m just keeping an open mind about it,” she said.
The House in July approved similar same-sex marriage legislation on a bipartisan 267-157 vote. The House will have to vote again if the religious freedom amendment is included by the Senate.
