What Will Be the Results of the Respect for Marriage Act?

As reported by Mary Margaret Olohan at The Daily Signal, the U. S. Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act today, but the final version did not include “a vital amendment that conservatives had pushed to protect religious freedom.” The supporters of the bill claimed that it has plenty of protection for religious liberty, but opponents warned that the bill “puts a giant target on people of faith.” United States Senate Passes Radical Respect for Marriage Act (dailysignal.com)

The first thing that the new legislation does is to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The second thing that it does is to require those “acting under color of state law” to recognize same-sex marriages. A third thing is that it “orders the federal government to recognize marriages that are deemed valid by one or more states.”

Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee urged Senators of both parties to support his amendment that would create “a strict policy that the federal government can’t discriminate on either viewpoint of marriage, whether same-sex or traditional.” His amendment failed 48-49 on a Tuesday vote. The amendment had a 60-vote affirmative threshold.

Twelve Republican Senators voted to advance the legislation, and they also voted for the final passage of the bill: Senators Roy Blunt (Missouri), Richard Burr (North Carolina), Shelley Capito (West Virginia), Susan Collins (Maine), Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah), San Sullivan (Alaska), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Todd Young (Indiana).

The same twelve Republicans Senators except Susan Collins (Maine) voted for Senator’s Lee amendment. Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) also voted for Lee’s amendment. Two other amendments – one by Republican Senator James Lankford (Oklahoma) and one by Republican Senator Marco Rubio (Florida) – failed, both with votes of 45-52.

Lee sent a letter to the twelve GOP Senators last week and emphasized that his amendment would “ensure that federal bureaucrats do not take discriminatory actions against individuals, organizations, nonprofits, and other entities based on their sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions about marriage by prohibiting the denial or revocation of tax-exempt status, licenses, contracts, benefits, etc.”

Lee added, “It would affirm that individuals still have the right to act according to their faith and deepest convictions even outside of their church or home.” He tried to convince them to not vote for the final bill unless his amendment was added to it. “The free exercise of religion is absolutely essential to the health of our Republic…. We must have the courage to protect it.”

Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation stated, “Members of Congress who voted for this bill and claim to support religious liberty are either naïve or don’t understand the laws they are passing.” He continued:

Despite polling showing that their constituents oppose this legislation, they refused to adopt Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s amendment that would have protected the religious freedom of millions of Americans without taking away a single benefit or legal entitlement from same-sex couples.

As a result, the tax-exempt status of religious schools and nonprofits is now up for debate. Additionally, the Left will try to use the bill to sue faith-based adoption agencies and contractors to drive them out of business as they have done in multiple states and localities already.

It appears that tyranny against religious organizations and people will continue to grow. Americans have twelve Republican Senators to thank for this monstrosity. If they had withheld their votes for the final bill, Lee’s amendment or a similar one might have passed.