House vote on same sex marriage

Each chamber of Congress must pass a resolution for a Constitutional amendment by a 2/3 majority. It would then go to the states where 3/4 must ratify. To put that in numbers, you would need 67 positive votes in the Senate and 289 positive votes in the House. So, with only 236 votes, the amendment failed in the House. It is no surprise that most of the Democrats voted no. On a straight party vote, there would have been no chance (231 Republicans, 201 Democrats and one independent). Only 34 Democrats supported the amendments. Twenty-seven Republicans voted against it. Here is the text of the amendment:

`Section 1. This article may be cited as the `Marriage Protection Amendment'.

`Section 2. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.'.

Here is the vote:

(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents=Sanders)

H J RES 88 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 18-Jul-2006 2:00 PM
QUESTION: On Passage
BILL TITLE: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage

	Yeas	Nays	PRES	NV
Republican	202	27		2
Democratic	34	159	1	7
Independent		1
TOTALS	236	187	1	9

---- YEAS 236 ---

Barrow Berry Bishop (GA) Boren Boucher Boyd Chandler Cooper Costello Cramer Cuellar

Davis (AL) Davis (TN) Edwards Etheridge Ford Gordon Herseth Holden Jefferson Marshall Matheson McIntyre

Melancon Ortiz Peterson (MN) Rahall Ross Scott (GA) Skelton Spratt Tanner Taylor (MS) Thompson (MS)

---- NAYS 187 ---

Bass Biggert Boehlert Bono Castle Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dreier Fitzpatrick (PA)

Foley Frelinghuysen Gerlach Gilchrest Hobson Hostettler Johnson (CT) Kirk Knollenberg

Kolbe Leach Paul Pryce (OH) Ros-Lehtinen Schwarz (MI) Shays Simmons Sweeney

---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 1 ---

Lipinski

---- NOT VOTING 9 ---

Brown (OH) Davis (IL) Evans

Hinojosa Johnson, Sam Kind

McKinney Northup Strickland