By Bob Roehr
The U.S. Senate defeated a procedural motion to cut off debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) July 14. The vote of 48 to 50 was a dozen short of the 60 votes required to end debate.
A constitutional amendment requires 67 votes to pass the Senate. This outcome effectively ends consideration of the FMA, at least for the moment.
The vote was essentially along party lines, with Republicans voting to end debate and Democrats to keep it open. However, a handful of members crossed the aisle in both directions.
Three Democrats, led by former Senate Leader Robert Byrd (West Virginia), voted to end debate. Six Republicans crossed over the other way, including John McCain (Arizona) who called the FMA 'antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans.'
The vote does not necessarily reflect the level of support for the FMA, which may well vary depending upon the exact language of the amendment. Several Republicans known to oppose the substance of the FMA voted with their leadership on the procedural measure. A few Democrats voted not to end debate, in support of their leadership and as electoral protection in speaking with their constituents, however their opposition to the FMA itself is not assured.
In a July 6 telephone news conference leading up to the vote, Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), had said, 'We are casting this, as are our enemies, that this is absolutely a vote on the FMA, this is not a procedural vote, this is a substantive vote.'
'It isn't just about narrowly defeating this measure, it's about winning soundly, sending a clear message to the House and to the states [considering state constitutional amendments] that discrimination is wrong.'
When asked whether Sen. John Kerry, the presidential candidate they have endorse, would be present to vote on the motion Jacques strongly asserted, 'He will be there.'
The political newspaper The Hill, in its issue the day before the scheduled vote, said that Kerry and Edwards would return to vote on the measure. 'Ducking the vote would have opened Kerry and Edwards to charges of political timidity from within their own party.'
However, later in the day, campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the pair would not participate in the debate or vote on the FMA. Kerry would be in Boston 'preparing' for the Democratic convention; Edwards would be campaigning.
Timing of the vote had been announced several weeks ago, prior to Kerry's selection of Edwards as his running mate.
HRC and National Stonewall Democrats have asserted that the Kerry/Edwards team is the most pro-gay set of candidates in history. Both Democrats have said that they support traditional marriage but oppose amending the Constitution. They were the only two Senators who did not vote on the FMA.
'This was an attempt to divide Americans that backfired and divided Republicans,' Jacques said of the outcome.
'As many as 60 Senators were prepared to vote against the amendment,' said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. 'Rather than face certain defeat, the radical right took the easy way out—by turning this into a largely party line vote. Today they are hiding behind a procedural vote because their campaign to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution has been an unqualified failure.'
