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Yesterday, I co-sponsored Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s (R-MO) Defend Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) Resolution, H. Con. Res. 25, which calls on the Obama administration to reverse its decision to stop defending DOMA.  Since 1996, when President Clinton signed DOMA into law, which statutorily defined marriage, for federal purposes, as a “legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and provided that no state would be required to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states.  President Obama’s refusal to drop DOMA is a blatant assault to our Constitution – a president can’t pick and choose which federal statutes to enforce based on policy preferences without providing a reasonable argument.

It is imperative that we remain vigilant and protect the current laws that protect our sacred institution of marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman.

In addition to the Hartzler resolution, I have co-sponsored legislation that protects marriage including:

Rep. Broun’s (R-GA) Marriage Protection Amendment which would have limit marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman through a constitutional amendment.

Rep. Burton’s (R-IN) Marriage Protection Act, which would clarify that federal courts will not have jurisdiction to hear cases regarding same-sex marriage, leaving the decision up to the states.

Finally, Speaker Boehner will convene a meeting with the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to take legal action on behalf of the House of Representatives to defend DOMA. Along with my fellow Republicans, I will continue to send a clear message that marriage is and shall remain a union between one man and one woman.