Boehner Would Be “Very Surprised” If House Doesn’t Mount DOMA Defense
In an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) sounded very much like a man planning on spearheading a defense of the Defense of Marriage Act now that the Obama adminstration — in the case of Section 3 of DOMA — has decided that it will no longer do so.
In the interview, Boehner said, “I’d be very surprised if the House didn’t decide that they were going to defend law.” He added that a decision is expected on the matter this week.
Boehner also called the president’s decision not to defend Section 3 of DOMA “raw politics” and said that, because of that, “a lot of people who believe in DOMA are probably not likely to vote for him.”
In an extended answer, Boehner said:
I’m really disappointed in the President and the Department of Justice in the fact that they’re not going to defend a law that Congress passed overwhelmingly. It’s their responsibility to do that. Now, it’s happened before where administrations have decided they weren’t going to go out and vigorously defend a law that Congress passed but I really am disappointed in the President in his actions but if the President won’t lead, if the President won’t defend DOMA then you’ll see the House of Representatives defend our actions in passing a bill that frankly passed overwhelmingly.
There are a lot of options on the table.
We’ve been researching all the options that are available to us. We’ll be talking to the members in the next few days about that and I expect we’ll have a decision by the end of the week.
Brody then asked, “Rick Santorum says that the Speaker of the House should appoint a counsel representing the House of Representatives to take up the case and argue DOMA in federal court. Is that a good idea?”
Boehner said, “It’s an option being considered.”
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