A critical vote will take place in the Senate on Wednesday over whether to move the proposal to make marriage equality, with religious protections, into federal law in the United States, according to Records of Congress.
Respect for Marriage Act needs 60 votes to pass the upper House. It also requires at least 10 Republican vote. The plan’s authors expect it to be supported by the GOP after a bipartisan group made changes to the bill to preserve religious liberty.
The amendment “recognizes the importance of marriage, acknowledges that diverse beliefs and the people who hold them are due respect, and affirms that couples, including same-sex and interracial couples, deserve the dignity, stability and ongoing protection of marriage,”According to the bipartisan committee.
If the bill gets passed by the Senate, it will be reintroduced in the House before it can be signed into law by President Biden, according to CBS News.
Senates work together to release a report from a bipartisan commission Statement Nov. 15, said they are ready for their legislation to hit the Senate floor and be voted on.
Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) all worked to create legislation in hopes to codify same-sex and interracial marriage, according to the statement.
“The Respect for Marriage Act is a needed step to provide millions of loving couples in same-sex and interracial marriages the certainty that they will continue to enjoy the freedoms, rights, and responsibilities afforded to all other marriages.”
An amendment to the legislation includes religious liberties, meaning that any non-profit religious organization will not be required to provide services, facilities, or goods for celebrating or for the solemnization of a marriage, the senators said.
It also safeguards the protections for religious liberty and conscience provided by the Constitution and federal law, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Additionally, it is made explicit that the amendment does not authorize the federal government from recognizing polygamy.
If this legislation gets codified, the federal government is required to recognize any marriage between two people if their marriage was valid in the state it was held. It would also ensure that the couple’s marriage is given full “faith and credit” regardless of their race, ethnicity, national origin, or sex, according to the statement.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, has already expressed he is ready to push the legislation forward and get it voted on.
“This Senate is moving forward on the Respect for Marriage Act to codify marriage protections into federal law. No one should be discriminated against because of who they love,” said Schumer in a tweet.
“I want to make clear that passing this bill is not a theoretical exercise, but it is as real as it gets. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Justice Thomas argued that other rights, like the right to marriage equality enshrined in Obergefell, could come next,” said Schumer, according to the congressional records.
“I hope, for the sake of tens of millions of Americans, that at least 10 Republicans will vote with us to put marriage equality into law soon. The rights and dignity of millions of Americans depend on it,” said Schumer, according to the congressional record.