Rep. Boehner on a House DOMA repeal vote: “yeah, whatever dude. Keep dreaming..”
PLEASE, don’t anybody tell me that you’re surprised by this:
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated on Thursday he wouldn’t bring to a vote before the House to a vote legislation pending before Congress that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Asked by the Washington Blade if he’s be open to bringing the measure to a floor vote, Boehner replied, ”Congress has acted on this issue some number of years ago, and I think that the Congress acted on [it] in a bi-partisan way. It is the law of the land and should remain the law of the land.”
DOMA repeal legislation has received renewed legislation since the White House announced on Tuesday that President Obama supports the DOMA repeal legislation, known as the Respect for Marriage Act. The president campaigned on legislative repeal of DOMA, but not until this week did not he articulate support for the Respect for Marriage Act as the vehicle to repeal the anti-gay law.
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on DOMA repeal featuring testimony from individuals in same-sex marriage who were negatively affected by the statute, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Boehner’s indication during his weekly news conference that he wouldn’t hold a vote on DOMA repeal shouldn’t come as a surprise. When Obama declared that the law was unconstitutional in February and that he would no longer defend the law in court, Boehner directed House general counsel to take up defense of the law in March following a party-line vote in the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group.
Boehner has burned every bit of political currency he had earlier this year with the fiasco of DOMA being represented by private counsel. No way he’s going to back pedal now.
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