Defense of Marriage Act. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856) “to prohibit the use of funds used in contravention of section 7 of title 1, United States Code.” Section 7 of title 1 of the U.S. Code is better known as the Defense of Marriage Act.
When Rep. King offered his amendment on the floor of the House on July 19, he explained: “What we’ve seen since the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act is an effort on the part of the executive branch to undermine, I believe, marriage between one man and one woman within our military ranks…. Congress directs and acts within the authority of article I of the Constitution, our legislative authority, and the President of the United States, or his executives who are empowered by him, seek to undermine the law of the United States, instead of coming here to this Congress and asking for the law to be changed, or simply accepting the idea that they’ve taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law, and to take care, under article II, section 3, that the laws be faithfully executed.”
The House adopted King’s amendment on July 19, 2012 by a vote of 247 to 166 (Roll Call 487). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the Constitution grants “all legislative powers” exclusively to Congress in Article I, Section 1 and requires the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” in Article II, Section 3.
