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发帖数: 4174 | 1 House Republicans retaliated for President Obama's pro-marriage stance by
passing a bill late Wednesday that would hamstring the administration when
trying speak out against the Defense of Marriage Act.
Politico reports that by a vote of 245-171, the House attached an amendment
to funding for the Department of Justice, barring it from using any taxpayer
money to oppose DOMA in court.
The administration had already stopped defending DOMA, leaving that instead
to House Republicans, led by Speaker John Boehner. In October, Boehner and
House Republican leadership increased their budget for advocating DOMA in
court from $500,000 to $1.5 million.
When President Obama came out for marriage equality Wednesday, he said
legalization should remain a state issue. DOMA protects states where same-
sex marriage isn't legal from having to recognize marriages of those
residents wed in states where it is legal. So a couple married in New York
is no longer considered married if they move to neighboring New Jersey, for
example.
DOMA also bars the federal government from recognizing any same-sex couple
married in any state, which has a cascade of tax code effects. Businesses
such as Google and others have said it creates wasteful bureaucracy that is
a burden on their bottom line.
A spokesman for House Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi called the $1.
5 million cap “absolutely unconscionable” in October. Today Drew Hammill
said, according to Politico, that Republicans had acted "in the dark of
night" and "continue to plant their feet firmly on the wrong side of history
.”
Ian Thompson, senior legislative assistant at the ACLU, said the amendment "
is a solution in search of a problem. While there are multiple legal
challenges to DOMA working their way through the federal courts, it is still
binding. This amendment serves absolutely no purpose other than to score
political points at the expense of gay and lesbian couples.” |
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