Senate Democrats are hopeful that they will obtain enough Republican votes in the Senate to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which could codify same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law.
The Respect for Marriage Act, which has gone through multiple iterations before Congress since 2009, was reintroduced in July following comments from Justice Clarence Thomas that the Supreme Court could revisit and possibly overturn its 2015 decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage.
House Democrats and 47 Republicans voted to pass the bill on Tuesday.
In comments made Wednesday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer expressed that he was “impressed by how much bipartisan support the bill got in the House,” CNN reports. Additionally, he announced that Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is working with Senate Republicans to gauge their level of support for the legislation.
In order to pass, 10 Republican Senators would have to join all 50 Democrats in voting for the legislation in order to break the filibuster. Currently, only Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rob Portman (R-OH) have publicly expressed their support of the bill. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have both said that they will likely support the legislation as well.
While the majority of Republicans have yet to commit to the legislation, others, including Lindsay Graham (SC) and Marco Rubio (FL) have come out against it, with Rubio calling the bill “a stupid waste of time.”
