Schumer Says Senate to Vote on Marriage Equality 'In the Coming Weeks'
(CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that he intends to hold a vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage into federal law "in the coming weeks," and hopes there will be enough Republican support to pass it.Schumer also said he would prefer to bring it to the floor as a separate piece of legislation, and not attached to a must-pass government funding bill."Let me be clear a vote will happen -- a vote on marriage equality will happen on the Senate floor in the coming weeks, and I hope there will be 10 Republicans to support it," Schumer said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.The Senate returned to Washington after the August recess this week and Democrats, who control the chamber, must decide how and when to hold votes on several key items ahead of the upcoming November midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake.The main must-pass legislative item on the to-do list is a bill to extend government funding past a September 30 deadline and avert a shutdown, but Democrats are also pushing to hold a vote on same-sex marriage.
There have been questions over whether the same-sex marriage bill could be attached to the government funding measure, but prominent supporters of the bill have pushed back and argued it should take place as a stand-alone vote.Schumer on Wednesday said of the same-sex marriage legislation, "we would prefer to do it as a separate bill.
