Washington, D.C.—Iowa Congressman Steve King said today that he would be available for media interviews on the defense of marriage issue.  

King is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which reported the Marriage Protection Act (H.R. 3313) out of committee today. This legislation would prevent the federal courts from striking down the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that provides that no state shall be required to accept same-sex marriage licenses granted in other states.   In 1996, Congress, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan action, passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which then-President Clinton signed.  Forty-four states have also enacted legislation that defends traditional marriage.  This legislation protects those state laws from the whims of the unelected judiciary, and reserves the issue of marriage for the states individually.  

“I voted to protect marriage because we are at a cultural crossroads,” King said from his Washington office. “It is up to us—this generation of lawmakers—to defend and protect our Constitution and marriage in America.  It is imperative that Congress reasserts itself as the legislative body.  We must prevent the courts from imposing Massachusetts judge-made law on the other forty-nine states.” 

“Therefore,” King continued, “it now falls to us in the House to draw a bright line that will show federal judges they can no longer circumvent the Constitution and the will of the people.  Our Constitution specifically gives Congress the authority to set the jurisdiction of the courts by statute, and it is high time we, as the representatives of the people, exercised it.  We must do so now, before federal courts make it too late to save traditional marriage.”