Democratic Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid on Gay Marriage

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:15pm

SENATOR REID: In Nevada today, gas prices are over $3.00 a gallon. Fill-ups at the tank cause emptiness at the bank. This Administration, the most friendly-to-oil Presidency in our history, refuses to buck Big Oil or the auto manufacturers. Our citizens are literally choking on the lack of alternative fuel. Few incentives for energy created by the sun, the wind, or the Earth’s geothermal reserves has this Administration endorsed.

Raging in Iraq is an intractable war. Our soldiers are fighting valiantly, but we have Abu Ghraib and Haditha—where 24 or more civilians were allegedly killed by our own—and no policy for winning the peace. However, Secretary Rumsfeld continues in his job with the full backing of the President. Not a reprimand, not a suggestion that his Defense Secretary is at fault.

We have a national debt that President Bush won’t acknowledge, but our children, their children, and their children’s children will have to acknowledge the generations of debt created by President Bush’s economic policies. Federal red ink as far as one can see. America is becoming continually more dependent on loans from China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and England.

Our world is changing as we speak as a result of global warming—a condition our President does not acknowledge, let alone attempt to reverse.

Today nearly 46 million Americans have absolutely no health insurance. Millions more of our countrymen have inadequate health insurance. This Administration has come forward with nothing of substance to address this national emergency.

Seniors in Nevada and each of the 50 states are struggling to survive. Some physicians refuse to take Medicare patients. The President’s Medicare prescription drug plan has been a gift to HMO’s, insurance companies, and drug companies and a nightmare for seniors.

Education for many of our graduating high school seniors has become a goal too far. Student loans and Pell grants are not a priority of the Bush Administration. The ability to obtain a college education is becoming more and more based on how much money your parents have instead of how much academic potential our youth have.

Crime remains a national worry, but money from the federal government to our states for crime fighting and crime prevention is being drastically cut. Successful anti-crime programs such as the COPS program are being eliminated by President Bush, much to the consternation of police officers across America.

A trade policy that is continually eroding America’s favorable balance of payments seems to be the watchword of the Bush Administration. This trade policy causes America to be less and less globally competitive.

The scientific community cries for help. They believe dread diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes could be moderated and prevented, but President Bush emphatically says NO to allowing scientists to study and research the healing powers of stem cells. He refuses to keep hope alive for the suffering people of our great country.

In spite of the many serious problems we have just discussed, what is the United States Senate going to debate this week?

A new energy policy? NO.

Will we debate the raging war in Iraq? NO.

Will we address our staggering national debt? NO.

Will we address the seriousness of global warming – NO

Will we address the aging of America? NO.

Will we address America’s education dilemma? NO.

Will we address rising crime statistics? NO.

Will we debate our county’s trade imbalance? NO.

Will we debate Stem Cell Research? NO.

But what we will spend most of the week on is a constitutional amendment that will fail by a large margin, a constitutional amendment on Same Sex Marriage—an effort that failed to pick up a simple majority, when we recently voted on it. Remember, an Amendment to our Constitution requires 67 votes.

I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. I believe in our federal system of government, described to me in college as a central whole divided among self governing parts. Those self governing parts—the 50 states—have already decided this on their own in state after state. For example, in Nevada the constitution was amended to prevent same sex marriage. Congress and President Clinton passed a law that gave the states the guarantee that their individual laws regarding marriage would be respected. The Defense of Marriage Act creates an exception to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution so that no state can force its laws of marriage on another.

So why are we being directed by the President and this Republican majority to debate an Amendment to the Constitution, a document inspired more than two centuries ago? Why would we be asked to change this American masterpiece?

Will it next be to constitutionally dictate the cause of divorce, or military service, or even what America’s religion must be?

So for me it is clear the reason for this debate is to divide our society, to pit one against another. This is another one of the President’s efforts to frighten, to distort, to distract, and to confuse America. It is this Administration’s way of avoiding the tough, real problems that American citizens are confronted with each and every day:

High Gas Prices.

The War in Iraq.

The National Debt.

Health Care.

Senior Citizens.

Education.

Crime.

Trade Policy.

Stem Cell Research.

Each issue begging the President’s attention, each issue being ignored—valuable time in the Senate spent on an issue that today is without hope of passing.

These issues are not Democratic issues. These issues are not Republican issues. There must be bipartisan efforts to address America’s ills.

I will vote no on the Motion to Proceed, as it is not a measure meant to bring America together. Rather, it is an effort to cover and conceal the issues necessary to make America more competitive, caring, considerate and stronger.

Together, America Can Do Better.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:24pm

Too bad he had to make sure to quantify his statement to pronounce that he, too, is against gay marriage.
Way to go.

[cturtle]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:32pm

amen! amen! and again i say AMEN!

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:35pm

Amen? That's a pro-gay stance? That's definitely not speaking for this gay man.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:43pm

now chita, we've already established that you are the exception to all of gay society as a whole.

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:44pm

I guess...

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:46pm

You know papa it's just that he's only saying this shouldn't be addressed because we've got more important things to think about. He's not saying it isn't a valid sentiment (gays not marrying.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:51pm

Ya got his words. Ya got Bush's. Choose.

Ya want them to WANT gay marriage? Ya gonna have to wait for the next generation.

Meanwhile, keep those Republicans the f*ck out of office, so they don't keep putting bigots on the Supreme Court and proposing amendments to the Constitution that could effectively ban ghay marriage for HUNDREDS of years.

Ya don't see the Democrats doing that, do ya, Chita?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:54pm

well, i tend to agree with him that there are far more important things that the senate could be spending its time on. which is why i suggested on the other thread that the democrats basically just walk away from it. they can say, "while the republican party is wasting precious time this nation doesn't have on a divisive measure that is destined to fail, we have opted to instead to work on the isssues that americans have elected us to address. they can call us for the vote. in the meantime, we'll be attending to the country's pressing issues." but that would mean giving up valuable c-span time. i think harry should have immediately made a motion to proceed to an immediate vote. what's there to debate?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:55pm

Maybe you should run for the Senate. Against Hillary.

Think how happy you would make GothamPC.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:58pm

heh. i just heard from her today. hil, that is. i emailed her my suggestion about abstaining.