Political Quotes

“I rise once again to express my strong opposition to the motion to proceed to this constitutional amendment. There are so many other issues we should be debating instead of this divisive and deeply flawed proposal. We should be debating the raging war in Iraq. We should be debating our staggering national debt. We should be debating global warming. We should be debating stem cell research. But we should not be debating a vague and unnecessary proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution. This week's debate is a textbook illustration of misplaced priorities. As Chairman Specter has said, the Federal Marriage Amendment is a solution in search of a problem. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which I supported, remains the law of the land. It defines marriage for purposes of Federal benefits as the union of a man woman, and provides that no State shall be required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in any other. DOMA has been challenged three times, including in the Ninth circuit, and each time it has been upheld. DOMA is consistent with principles of federalism and the longstanding tradition in our system that matters of family law should be left to the States and not dictated by the Federal Government. In my home State of Nevada, we passed a State constitutional amendment in 2002 making clear that only a marriage been a man and a woman can be recognized and given effect in Nevada. I supported that measure.…”