The Senate on Wednesday cleared a key procedural hurdle to passage of the bipartisan same-sex and interracial marriage protection bill, voting 62-37 to overcome a filibuster to move forward.
There could be additional votes before final passage, but Wednesday’s successful test vote signals it is on track to succeed.
While the bill would not impose a national requirement that all states legalize same-sex marriage, it would require individual states to recognize another state’s legal marriage. So, should the Supreme Court overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage, a state could pass a law banning same-sex marriage, but that state would have to recognize same-sex marriage. from another state.
All 50 members of the Democratic caucus voted to begin debate on the bill, along with 12 Republicans. The GOP senators who voted yes are:
Without an agreement to speed up passage of the bill, which needs the consent of all 100 senators, the final vote will likely take place after the Senate returns from the Thanksgiving recess.
On Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer expressed “hope” that after the first procedural vote later Wednesday, “both sides can quickly work together to move this bill through the Senate and to the president’s desk.”
“It already passed the House earlier this year with a significant 47 Republican votes, and I’m optimistic that we can achieve a significant result in this chamber,” he added.
Once the bill passes the Senate, it will have to go through the House again before going to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Supporters of the bill hope the legislation will pass the House before the end of the year, as Republicans appear on track to take control of the chamber in the next Congress.
Earlier this week, bipartisan negotiators who worked on the legislation announced they were “confident” the bill has enough votes to pass and hoped the bill could be brought to the floor for a vote.
The bipartisan group, which includes Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, said in a statement Monday that “ they’re looking forward to that legislation coming to the floor.”
In addition to those on the bipartisan task force, several other GOP senators have already signaled support for the bill.
Lawmakers had hoped to pass the bill before going on recess ahead of midterm elections, but parliament ordered a vote until after the November election as negotiators asked for more time to trim support.
There’s a chance final passage could happen as soon as this week if there’s an agreement among all 100 senators to speed up the process, otherwise it will likely happen after the Thanksgiving break.
This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments.
