SENATE SCUTTLES FMA: From the Washington Post

The Senate voted today to block a White House-backed constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriages, dooming its prospects for approval by Congress this year but ensuring it an emotionally-charged role during campaigns this fall.

The move to cut off debate on the bill got the support of only 48 senators -- 12 short of the 60 needed and 19 short of the two-thirds majority that it would take to amend the Constitution. Fifty senators voted against the proposal.

Republicans had hoped to win at least a simple majority in favor of proceeding with the amendment but were thwarted when six of their own colleagues joined all but three Democrats in voting to scuttle the measure without a vote on its substance. Several senators had said there would have been even more "no" votes if the showdown had occurred on substance rather than procedure.

The vote by the Republican-controlled Senate amounted to an embarrassing defeat for President Bush and conservative leaders who had pushed hard for approval of the amendment as a way of protecting traditional marriage. But Senate GOP leaders vowed to continue pushing for the amendment, hoping it will galvanize conservatives in the November election and help elect more supporters of the amendment.

"This issue is not going away," Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said.

The House of Representatives still may consider the issue. Majority Leader Tom DeLay said again today he plans to have the House vote this year on the amendment.

The Senate debate ended as it began, on a sharply partisan note, with Republicans contending that the institution of marriage was in jeopardy if opened to gays, and Democrats accusing Republicans of using a divisive issue to mobilize their conservative base. ...

Republicans who voted to block the amendment were Susan M. Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), John E. Sununu (N.H.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R-I.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.) and John McCain (Ariz.). Democrats who voted to bring up the amendment were Zell Miller (Ga.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.).

While most senators are on the record against same-sex marriage, many in both parties are reluctant to amend the Constitution for anything, especially to override state prerogatives on a divisive social issue. Some also worried that the amendment would be viewed as gay bashing by middle-of-the-road swing voters. Still others said voters want Congress to deal with issues such as the economy, health care and Iraq, rather than to spend time in a losing battle over marriage. ...

Under this win-by-losing strategy, GOP leaders hope to reassure conservatives that the party stands with them without angering moderates who are reluctant to amend the Constitution or target gays. Use of the issue would be confined to areas where it would do the most good.

"This is just the beginning of the process," said Gary Cass, of the Center for Reclaiming America, an advocacy group founded by the Rev. D. James Kennedy, a Florida evangelist. "We need to know who's with us and who's against us."

Republicans appeared to be laying down a political marker in scheduling the vote to occur less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, casting a spotlight on the Democratic presidential ticket's opposition to the amendment. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), said earlier they planned to return if there were an up-or-down vote on the amendment. But after it became clear that the showdown would be over a procedural issue on cutting off debate, the two Democrats canceled out.

Plans for a vote on the amendment itself collapsed after Republicans insisted on offering a scaled-back alternative, limited to defining marriage, and Democrats balked.

The proposed amendment, which defines marriage as existing only between a man and a woman, also includes language that some have interpreted to cast legal doubt on civil unions. ...

But opinion polls generally show that most Americans agree with Kerry and Edwards in opposing same-sex marriage and a constitutional amendment to bar it, and some strategists question whether Bush and other Republicans are taking a risk in pushing the amendment.

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posted by Eve at 4:32 PM VOTE

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