(CNN) While walking on an elevator on Wednesday, GOP Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told CNN that a vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage was a “stupid waste of time.”
But when he said that, there was another senator on the elevator who heard him: Senator Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Democrat who is also the first known gay politician elected to the U.S. Senate.
“You’d probably love to be on the elevator to see the exchange later,” Baldwin told CNN on Thursday, adding, “of course I did” spoke to him about the remark.
“I said that,‘ The recent Supreme Court decision has eroded a constitutional right to privacy. There are a whole bunch of cases that have been decided on the basis of a constitutional right to privacy that are in jeopardy, “with which he disagrees. And anyway, I. Said we’ll talk more,” she said.
Baldwin did not reveal what Ruby said in response. Nor would she say whether she was offended by his remark.
“We’re not going to get into (that),” Baldwin said. “I count votes.”
Baldwin also predicted they would have 10 GOP votes to break an obstruction attempt as the bill eventually leads the floor.
Rubio and other Republican senators argued that the bill is “unnecessary” because there is no threat to same-sex marriage, as the majority opinion of Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito tried to block his abortion verdict from other verdicts involving the right to privacy as same-sex marriage. In a separate concurrent opinion, however, Judge Clarence Thomas wrote separately to explicitly demand that these other verdicts be revisited.
Baldwin’s remarks came the same day when her fellow Wisconsin senator, Republican Ron Johnson, indicated support for the same-sex marriage bill.
In a statement, Johnson called the bill “unnecessary,” but said that if it comes to a vote in the Senate, as it is expected, he sees “no reason to oppose it.”
Johnson makes five Senate Republicans who are expected to vote to advance the bill. While a majority of the conference is undecided Republican and Democratic senators said earlier this week that they expect the bill to finally win the votes needed to break an obstruction, a sign of growing public acceptance and a march on an issue that once badly divided the conference. . two parties.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said he wants to introduce the bill soon, but did not announce when he will schedule a vote. He added that he was “impressed by how much bipartisan support the bill has received in the House.”
The Senate is leaving for its August break after two weeks, making it unlikely he will be able to get the floor time before then, especially as senators are already trying to pass a bill to speed up semiconductor production and a separate economic package. Picking it up after August brings the debate closer to the midterm elections and will allow Democrats to highlight what they think are key social issues important to voters.
