[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20664]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 30, 2004

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to express my 
strong opposition to what is an assault on our Constitution, H.J. Res. 
106, the Marriage Protection Amendment.
  Constitutional amendments can never be taken lightly. Our 
Constitution has been amended only twenty-seven times in the two 
centuries since our country was founded, but it's never been amended to 
limit the civil rights of a specific group of people as we are doing 
here today.
  Few policy issues are more grounded in the jurisdiction of the fifty 
states than the laws of marriage. As Vice President Cheney said in a 
recent interview, ``Historically, that's been a relationship that's 
been handled by the states,'' and ``States have made the basic 
fundamental decision [as to] what constitutes a marriage.'' I agree 
with the Vice President. Should this legislation pass, not only would 
state courts be prohibited from recognizing same-sex marriages, but 
states would also be prohibited from enacting legislation to grant 
same-sex marriages through referendum, ballot initiative, or even 
through their own state constitutional amendment process, even in 
states where the majority supports it.
  As I strongly oppose the content of this legislation, the Majority's 
motivation to consider it today is raw politics. Bringing this 
legislation up weeks before our national elections, divides this nation 
even further at a time when critical issues and needs must be 
addressed. We should be using this time to focus on the recommendations 
of the 9/11 Commission; on the restructuring of our intelligence 
community; on protecting our ports, nuclear facilities and other 
potential targets from terrorists; on the rising health care costs in 
this country; on the loss of jobs throughout this country; on reducing 
our spiraling budget deficit; or on the rapidly deteriorating situation 
in Iraq. Instead, one month before the election, we're debating an 
amendment to our Constitution that has no hope of enactment, but merely 
because the Republican Majority believes they will be able to score 
points with this ill-begotten bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation and get 
back to work on the critical needs facing America.

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