Remember that push the Iowa GOP was making to get a same-sex marriage ban in front of legislators for consideration?
GOP minority leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, invoked a call of the
House, which required all representatives not excused for the day to
return to the chamber. Paulsen implemented a House rule that would pull
House Joint Resolution 6 from committee and place it on the debate
calendar.The attempt failed on a 45-54 vote. Paulsen told
reporters he was attempting to get House members on the record on the
issue.House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said
there are too many pressing budget matters for lawmakers to get bogged
down in a divisive social issue. Senate Republicans took to the floor to
decry what they called obstruction by majority party leaders in barring
debate on a resolution that seeks to bring the constitutional issue
before Iowa voters. Joint resolutions must pass in the exact same form
by two consecutive General Assemblies to be placed on a statewide
ballot.
It failed earlier in the Senate as well: "All 18 Republicans signed on to the petition, but 26 signatures were needed to force a vote. McKinley said one of the chamber’s 32 Democrats also signed the petition — state Sen. Tom Hancock of Epworth. 'While our bi-partisan effort fell short of gaining the 26 votes needed to proceed, the voters this November will have an opportunity to decide if they are content with the continued Democrat obstruction and inaction,' McKinley said in a statement shortly after the effort failed."
Aside from the obvious, why is this great news?
That means Iowans will likely have to wait until 2014 at the earliest to
vote on whether to amend the constitution and ban same-sex marriage. It
takes votes by two consecutive general assemblies before proposed
constitutional amendments can go before voters.
More on the failed efforts here. One Iowa has posted a page where you can thank Iowa legislators for standing up against bigotry.
