The Senate on Thursday voted to begin debate on a bill to codify same-sex marriage protections that the Supreme Court granted in 2015.
Senators in a procedural vote advanced the legislation, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, in a 53-23 vote.
The process to move closer to a final vote, however, proved arduous for advocates of the bill as Democratic leaders struggled to strike a time agreement with some Senate Republicans over their inability to have their amendments considered for inclusion.
Headlining that group was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who argued that an amendment aimed at protecting religious liberty — which was tacked on to win GOP support — pays nothing more than “lip service” to that idea. The Utah Republican’s amendment would have allowed for broader conscientious objections not just tethered to religious institutions and entities.
“[The bill] labels people of good faith as bigots and subjects them to endless harassing litigation and discrimination and threats by that same government that was founded to protect their religious liberty,” Lee said on the Senate floor. “We need to protect religious freedom. This bill doesn’t do that. It places it in grave jeopardy.”
Many Senate Republicans were absent for the vote altogether.
The group of five senators driving the bus on the legislation — Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — rolled out a deal earlier this week that included the amendment in question that would protect nonprofit religious organizations from carrying out services for a same-sex marriage.
The addendum also includes language related to religious liberty and conscience protections under the Constitution and federal law, and continues to prohibit polygamous marriage.
“While some may want to delay this process, make no mistake, there’s no stopping this bill from final passage,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) said on the floor earlier on Thursday. “The question of passage is not about if but when.”
The upper chamber on Wednesday voted 62-37 on a vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, putting the proposal on a glide path to become law.
Cloture and the final vote on the bill is expected to take place the week after Thanksgiving. A subsequent vote will be necessary in the House due to the amendment’s inclusion, leading to President Biden’s signature.
Senators are nearing the finish line of the months-long process, which included a decision by Schumer and Baldwin to delay a planned vote before the pre-election recess due to the lack of GOP support for the measure without provisions concerning religious freedom.
The effort to codify Obergefell v. Hodges into law came in response to Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, where he said that justices “should reconsider” the 2015 ruling.
“A single line from a single concurring opinion does not make the case for legislation that seriously threatens religious liberty,” Lee added.