Senate set to pass Respect for Marriage Act this afternoon

A Monday night vote has set the marriage equality bill on the path to become law.

After the Senate voted to end debate on the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) last night, passage of the bill became all but assured. And now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says that the full Senate will vote on the bill as early as this afternoon.

The Senate voted 61-35 yesterday night to end debate on the bill that would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and require the federal government and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, overcoming some Republican senators’ filibuster of the bill and allowing it to come to a final vote.

The bill passed a procedural vote before Thanksgiving that set it up to eventually pass the Senate, the chamber where many major Democratic initiatives have died over the first half of President Joe Biden’s term in office. The Senate will reconvene at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time and vote on three amendments to the bill proposed by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and James Lankford (R-OK). The Senate will then vote on the bill itself. The series of votes are scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m. Eastern time.

If the bill passes the Senate, it will have to go back to the House because of…

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