A total of 37 Republicans voted no to the Respect for Marriage Act on Wednesday, failing to stop the act from passing in the Senate against the 62 senators who voted in favor of it.
The senators rejecting the proposal included Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Debra Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Thune (R-SD), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS). No Democrat voted against the bill.
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“I just voted against the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ that is supposed to protect gay marriage without creating risks to religious freedom and religious institutions,” Graham wrote on social media. “Nothing in the bill adds new protections for gay marriage, but it does, in my view, create great uncertainty about religious liberty and institutions who oppose gay marriage.”
I just voted against the “Respect for Marriage Act” that is supposed to protect gay marriage without creating risks to religious freedom and religious institutions.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 16, 2022
Having surpassed the 60-vote threshold needed to defeat a filibuster, the Respect for Marriage Act will undergo a final vote on passage in the Senate sometime later this week. After that, it will go back to the House, which must vote to approve the religious freedom amendment that was not included earlier this summer, before being handed to President Joe Biden for approval.
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A bipartisan group of senators, including Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), crafted the religious freedom amendment in the Respect for Marriage Act to address concerns from conservatives. The bill had been shelved earlier this year until after the midterm elections in order to garner more support from Republican senators, as it needed at least 10 Republicans to vote in favor of it.
The Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting yes included Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Burr (R-NC), Shelley Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Todd Young (R-IN).
