Barney Frank: “this is not just about gays and lesbians. I have been here 24 years. We never do anything only once. When you have…”

“this is not just about gays and lesbians. I have been here 24 years. We never do anything only once. When you have developed a particular procedure to use in defense of your views, that gets used again and again. Today, I was going to say you set a precedent if you pass this bill, but you do not set a precedent. You go back in history to the Articles of Confederation. Passage of this bill will mean that the United States Constitution, in this particular area, will have different meanings in different States because States will then be the ultimate decider of the Constitution, and anyone who thinks that if we do it in this case that is the only time we will ever do it does not follow things closely. I am the ranking member on the minority side in the Committee on Financial Services. There is not an area in our jurisdiction with respect to the business community of America where the financial community does not come to us and say we need one uniform law. Do you not understand, Mr. Speaker, that if you set this precedent, it will apply in other areas? Indeed, it will become boilerplate. If you are passing legislation dealing with the second amendment and gun rights; and environmental land takings under the fifth amendment; the commerce clause, financial regulation, it will be a matter of course to add this language that says, and by the way, we believe so strongly in what we have done, it will be none of the business of the courts.…”