The White House wants to start the national discussion with Social Security, the president has already indicated he doesn’t intend to invest too much time in a constitutional amendment on gay marriage, but that doesn’t mean congressional Republicans are on the same page.
The fight over same-sex marriage is about to vault to the top of the congressional agenda today, when U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard plans to reintroduce a measure that would define marriage nationally as being between one man and one woman.
Last year’s version of the proposed constitutional amendment was shelved after a hard-fought procedural vote, when it gained only 48 of the 60 votes needed to bring it up for final approval.
I wonder if there comes a point in which a backlash begins. Congressional Dems have an agenda; the White House has an agenda, and congressional Republicans want to invest time and energy dividing the country over an amendment they know is going to fail. Is the GOP prepared to go into midterms under the banner, “Vote Republican: We Don’t Even Agree Amongst Ourselves On An Amendment That Most Of You Consider Too Extreme”?
If so, bring…it…on.
Indeed, Allard seems convinced that he’s going to do better this time.
Meanwhile, the November elections swept out several senators who voted to block Allard’s bill – most notably Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
“We think we have more support this time than we had last time around,” said Allard, R-Loveland.
As a matter of arithmetic, I’m assuming Allard’s right. Republicans gained seats and most of the newcomers are very conservative. But the point isn’t whether proponents will do better; it’s whether the stupid thing has any chance of passage.
Bush has already bailed on this misguided effort and none of the GOP hold-outs from last year have indicated any interest in changing their minds this year. In other words, this is — once again — a divisive waste of time that will do little more than give the religious right a boost in fundraising for a few months.
Watch, however, to see what bill number it gets. GOP leaders save the really low single-digit numbers for “priority items.” Allard wants his constitutional amendment to be Concurrent Resolution 1, so that it will have the symbolic significance of being the Senate’s top priority. If Frist & Co. go along, we’ll know they’ll be along for this unproductive, bigoted ride.