A BAD Week for D.C.

Two votes in our nation's Capitol this week that remind us why we need to "fight the good fight"

D.C. Council Casts Final Vote to Legalize Same-Sex "Marriage"


The District of Columbia City Council voted again this afternoon to approve a measure legalizing same-sex "marriage."

D.C. Council members passed the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009" by an 11-2 margin on the final reading of the bill. An identical vote took place on December 1 for the first reading of the bill.

The measure will now go to Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has stated his intention to sign the bill into law.

Congress will have thirty days to review the law before it can take effect. Without Congressional intervention, the nation's capital should see the first same-sex "marriages" performed in March around St. Patrick's Day.

Gutting Dornan Amendment, Senate approves federal funding for abortions in D.C.

On Sunday the U.S. Senate approved a $447 billion omnibus bill that the Dornan Amendment, a ban on funding for most abortions in the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital. Some pro-life commentators said the action contradicted past pledges to work to reduce the need for abortion. The spending bill contained funding for dozens of federal agencies and the District of Columbia. It passed by a 57 to 35 margin after securing 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster.

A provision known as the Dornan Amendment had previously barred federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother.

According to Cardinal Justin Rigali, the former chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, chaired by Rep José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), didn’t totally eliminate the Dornan Amendment, but successfully gutted it.

“Instead of continuing to bar use of all congressionally appropriated funds for such abortions, the subcommittee narrowed the ban to cover only 'federal' funds so 'local' funds may be used for abortions without limit or restraint,” the cardinal wrote in a July 30, 2009 letter to the House Appropriations Committee.