WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is on track to vote on a bill codifying marriage equality as soon as next week with negotiators increasingly confident it could become law.
Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday they’re close to getting at least 10 Republicans to back the same-sex marriage measure, pushing it past the minimum number of senators required to clear the chamber’s legislative filibuster.
“I think the momentum is going in the right direction. And yeah, I think it’s gonna have good support,” Baldwin said.
However, the bill might undergo some changes from legislation already passed by the House, which means it would have to return there for another vote before going to the president’s desk.
Baldwin and Collins said during separate interviews with reporters they’re working on an amendment that would address some lawmakers’ concerns about religious liberty protections for people with sincerely held beliefs opposing same-sex marriages.
“We’re looking at an amendment that would strengthen the language in the bill to make crystal clear that it does not in any way infringe upon religious liberties,” Collins said. “And it also would correct a drafting error in one part of the bill and make it very clear that marriage is between two individuals.”
The changes to the bill, Collins said, would answer concerns from some lawmakers the legislation “could somehow lead to federal recognition of polygamous relationships, even though there’s not a single state that allows for polygamous marriage.”
Collins and Baldwin said they want the legislation to move as a stand-alone bill, not attached to a must-pass government funding bill that needs to become law before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said during a news conference Wednesday he plans to bring the same-sex marriage bill to the floor soon and that he would prefer for it to remain disentangled from the government funding bill.
“A vote on marriage equality will happen on the Senate floor in the coming weeks and I hope there will be 10 Republicans to support it,” Schumer said.
House action
The U.S. House passed the marriage equality bill following a 267-157 bipartisan vote in July, spurred by concerns from Democrats the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually undo the constitutional protection after conservative justices overturned abortion rights.
The fears stem from Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the abortion case, where he wrote that the justices “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents” that applied legal reasoning similar to that in the two cases that kept abortion access legal nationwide for half a century.
