In the race to prevent our right-wing Supreme Court from unilaterally breaking up same-sex marriages from coast to coast, the U.S. Senate has taken a pit stop.
The House overwhelmingly passed the "Respect for Marriage Act" in July. The Senate version of the bill is cosponsored by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kyrsten Sinema (D-CA), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), and Rob Portman (R-OH).
In today's 50-50 Senate, even the most innocuous bill has to have ten Republicans to support it or it will die by wordless filibuster. So far, Tom Tillis (R-NC) has also signed on to the bill, but its sponsors have been disappointed that Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) remains non-committal.
Wisconsin's other Senator, Republican Ron Johnson, is running for a third term this year. He said at first that he "saw no reason to oppose the bill," but later dismissed the bill as needless and divisive.
“I’m not happy with the Baldwins of the world who are just opening that wound and opening up that debate, okay?” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, his TV ads reopen the wounds of the 2020 Kenosha riot and the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade assault. All the more reason for Wisconsin voters to replace him with Mandela Barnes.
Anyway, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has decided to put the Respect for Marriage Act on hold until after the November election, in hopes that there are seven Republicans who would vote to let the bill come to the floor if they could do so six years before the next time they have to run for reelection.
See anyone like that on this list of Republicans running this year?
- Blunt, Roy (R-MO)
- Boozman, John (R-AR)
- Burr, Richard (R-NC)
- Crapo, Mike (R-ID)
- Grassley, Chuck (R-IA)
- Hoeven, John (R-ND)
- Johnson, Ron (R-WI)
- Kennedy, John (R-LA)
- Lankford, James (R-OK)
- Lee, Mike (R-UT)
- Moran, Jerry (R-KS)
- Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)
- Paul, Rand (R-KY)
- Portman, Rob (R-OH)
- Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
- Scott, Tim (R-SC)
- Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
- Thune, John (R-SD)
- Toomey, Patrick J. (R-PA)
- Young, Todd (R-IN)
Supposedly, Johnson and Mike Lee were working on language that would exempt Christians from respecting marriage, if you can imagine language that didn't render the entire bill meaningless. "The terms and provisions of this Act shall not be interpreted to apply to persons, corporations or officials who believe that it doesn't apply to them."
Whatever. Even without such an exemption, Clarence Thomas and the gang are bound to find some reason that it doesn't apply to anybody, either. Probably citing Leviticus v. Gomorrah.
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