Patrick Leahy: “I wish to speak about the amendment presently before us. There has been a lot of speculation in the paper about whether…”

“I wish to speak about the amendment presently before us. There has been a lot of speculation in the paper about whether this is on the schedule because of partisan politics. Of course, it is. The Republican leader has decided that today our Nation's most pressing priority is a concern over committed relationships between same sex couples. We have very little time left in this session that we are devoting to an amendment, which will go nowhere, when so many of us are trying to focus on solutions to high gas prices, something that hurts people in your State and mine; or the rising cost of health care, certainly a matter of great interest in my State; the ongoing situation in Iraq, a place where the Bush-Cheney administration told us we would be welcomed as liberators and suggested we would be out of there quickly. We have now been there almost as long as World War II, and the ending to World War II was far more obvious than the ending in Iraq; or strengthening our national security. We are not going to talk about any of those things. I think that is a testament to the misplaced priorities of the Republican leadership. News reports have clearly revealed how this proposed constitutional amendment is being used to satisfy the most extreme right-wing supporters of Republican politicians. I do not believe that Americans are well served by this strategy, a strategy that would divide rather than unite Americans.…”