Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Ahead Of Senate Passage Of The Respect For Marriage Act

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the vote on the bipartisan Respect For Marriage Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

For millions of Americans, today is a very good day, an important day, a day that’s been a long time coming: the Senate is passing the Respect for Marriage Act. Today the long but inexorable march towards greater equality advances forward.

By passing this bill, the Senate is sending a message that every American needs to hear: no matter who you are or who you love, you too deserve dignity and equal treatment under the law.

As the chamber knows, this is personal to me. And the first people I will call when this bill passes will be my daughter and her wife.

I want to thank my colleagues joining the others in making this legislation possible, and especially the teams of Senators Baldwin and Sinema, Collins, Tillis, and Portman. To all of you I say bravo, job well done. And to all who make the choice to support this bill, thank you.

None of this was inevitable. At the urging of my colleagues, we took the calculated risk of holding off on a vote back in September, because they believed with more time we could build enough bipartisan support to push this bill over the finish line. Today, we have vindication the wait was well worth it.

I thank my colleagues for their work, and above all I want to thank the American people, the vast majority of whom understand deep in their hearts that the inexorable march towards equality is what America is all about.

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