GOP caucus aiming to repeal D.C. marriage equality law

The head of a caucus of conservative Republicans in the House told The Hill newspaper that he will very likely introduce a bill seeking to overturn Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality law.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said he thinks one of the caucus’s 175 members will introduce such a bill.

“I think RSC will push for it, and I’m certainly strongly for it,” Jordan told The Hill for a story published January 25. “I don’t know if we’ve made a decision if I’ll do it or let another member do it, but I’m 100 percent for it.”

Jordan has pushed several times for legislation aimed at blocking equal rights for gay couples in marriage licensing.

Washington, D.C., is not a state but a unique District, controlled by the Congress to serve as the nation’s center of government. The Constitution provides Congress the authority to either block D.C. Council-approved legislation from taking effect or to, later, change or strike such legislation.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), in introducing a bill January 26, seeking to end Congress’s authority to prevent D.C. laws from taking effect, but with a Republican-controlled House, her bill is not likely to move this session.

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