McConnell won’t comment on bill protecting same-sex marriage until it reaches floor

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t say whether he will support bipartisan, House-passed legislation to require states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states until the bill comes to the Senate floor.  

The legislation passed the House with the support of 47 Republicans, but it doesn’t yet have the support of 10 Republican senators.  

McConnell, when asked about the legislation Tuesday, said he’s waiting until it comes to the floor before announcing whether he would vote for it. 

“I’m not going to make an observation about that until the issue is actually brought up in the Senate,” he said.  

While some Senate Republicans have already vowed to vote against the legislation, others are keeping quiet about the bill until it is closer to receiving a scheduled vote. 

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Iowa), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who are viewed as potential “yes” votes, declined to say Tuesday whether they will support the legislation.  

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told reporters Tuesday that the legislation would likely not have the votes to pass this week in part because colleagues expected to vote for it, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), are absent after testing positive for COVID-19.