Recognizing gay marriages would actually reduce federal expenditures by a small amount, less than $1 billion a year in the $2.4 trillion federal budget. That was the surprising conclusion of 'The Potential Budgetary Impact of Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages,' an analysis performed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on the Constitution, requested the analysis. It was released June 21.
'In some cases, recognizing same-sex marriages would increase outlays and revenues; in other cases, it would have the opposite effect,' said the analysis. It assumed that same-sex marriage was recognized in all 50 states and by the federal government, and that half of the 1.2 million adults identified in the 2000 Census as living in same-sex households would marry.
'On balance, legalization of same-sex marriages would have only a small impact on federal tax revenues, CBO estimates. Revenues would be slightly higher; by less than $400 million a year ... . Those amounts represent less than 0.1 percent of total federal revenues.
'Recognizing same-sex marriages would increase outlays for Social Security and for the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program, CBO estimates, but would reduce spending for Supplemental Security Income , Medicaid, and Medicare. Effects on other programs would be negligible. Altogether, CBO concludes, recognizing same-sex marriage would affect outlays by less than $50 million a year in either direction through 2009 and reduce them by about $100 million to $200 million annually from 2010 through 2014.'
'As a general rule, married people fare better under Social Security than single people do, and married couples with one earner fare better than two-earner couples do.' But same-sex couples would see only modest gains in this area, first because they are more likely to have two wage earners and ones who make more similar incomes than traditional two income households; and second, because widows generally outlive their spouses by 6-7 years while same-sex couples are likely to have more similar life expectancies.
Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said, 'Congress's own analysis shows America would benefit from equal protection. It's clear that giving all American families equal protection won't harm the bottom line.'
Some social conservatives have asserted recently that allowing gay marriage will cost a fortune. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., raised that bugaboo during a House hearing May 13 when he ticked off a list of federal benefits and said extending those to gay couples will 'just break the bank ... . It will cost billions of dollars.'
The report should lay that line of accusations to rest. But social conservatives' opposition to gay marriage is based upon faith and not reason or finances.