Embattled Sen. Ron Johnson got a big reprieve Thursday. The Wisconsin Republican has flipped and flopped and flipped again on the issue of marriage equality. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to postpone the bill Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Johnson’s Democratic counterpart from Wisconsin, has been working on enshrining same-sex and interracial marriage protections in federal statute.
Johnson’s been downright nasty about Baldwin and her bipartisan effort to give these marriages federal protection. “We’ve got enough problems,” he said a few weeks ago. “We have enough things to divide this nation. Let’s not drag that back up,” Johnson continued. “So I’m not happy with the Baldwins of the world who are just opening that wound and opening that debate.”
The delay isn’t going over well with some House Democrats, who passed the bill two months ago.
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Baldwin has been working with Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose fingerprints are all over the delayed bill. Because that’s what she does on behalf of Mitch McConnell. She makes all sorts of promises to Democrats about helping them get Republican votes, then drags the process out until it atrophies. This time around, it really benefits Johnson, as Maloney points out.
Baldwin has been working with Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose fingerprints are all over the delayed bill. Because that’s what she does on behalf of Mitch McConnell. She makes all sorts of promises to Democrats about helping them get Republican votes, then drags the process out until it atrophies. This time around, it really benefits Johnson, as Maloney points out.
Baldwin and her group insist that they’ve got a bill 10 Republicans will agree to. Just not right now. “Through bipartisan collaboration, we’ve crafted commonsense language that respects religious liberty and Americans’ diverse beliefs, while upholding our view that marriage embodies the highest ideals of love, devotion, and family,” a statement from the lawmakers said.
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“We are confident that when our legislation comes to the Senate floor for a vote, we will have the bipartisan support to pass the bill,” the group said. Where that confidence comes from, lord only knows. These are Republicans—and Collins—we’re talking about. If they can’t or won’t support it now, when will they?
Even Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) admits that, when he says the quiet part out loud again. Putting off the vote, he said, allows Republicans to avoid “electoral accountability.”
“I can’t imagine anybody’s undecided about it,” he said.
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