Dems in Iowa House suspend rules to pass texting ban, but not to preserve marriageIowa Family Policy Council Action has issued this email update: Iowa House Finally Suspends the Rules UPDATE FROM THE IOWA HOUSE: This afternoon, 51 Members of the Iowa House voted to suspend the rules, and passed an amendment over the objection of Speaker Pat Murphy. This is the EXACT SAME procedure that was attempted on February 9th in an effort to pass the Iowa Marriage Amendment. While promoters of homosexuality in the Iowa House have been saying that it is nearly impossible to suspend the rules over the objection of the Speaker, we now have proof that it is possible. Unfortunately, instead of taking up the Iowa Marriage Amendment, the rules were suspended today to amend the ban on text messaging while driving to limit it to young drivers. What is especially interesting about this vote is that it was bipartisan in nature. With 12 Democrats joining 39 Republicans, the Members of the Iowa House took control of the legislative agenda and forced passage of an amendment that Speaker Murphy objected to. If just 7 of the 12 Democrats who voted to suspend the rules today would join the Republicans and suspend the rules to bring the Iowa Marriage Amendment to the floor, Democrats who were willing to vote to suspend the rules for an amendment on texting are: Representative McKinley D. Bailey Representative Deborah L. Berry Representative Jerry A. Kearns Representative Dolores M. Mertz Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt Representative Ray S. Zirkelbach Rep. Mertz is the only member listed above who voted with the Republican Caucus on February 9th to suspend the rules and bring the Iowa Marriage Amendment to the floor for a vote. If just 6 more of these Representatives would cast their vote to suspend the rules one more time, the process of allowing the people of Iowa to access their Constitutional right to vote could still move forward. Click on any of the links above to send an e-mail to the Representatives listed, and ask them if they will cast a vote to suspend the rules and bring the Iowa Marriage Amendment to the floor. If they won’t cast that vote, they need to explain to Iowans why it’s more important to pass an amendment to the texting ban than it is to defend the institution of marriage. The battle to preserve real marriage in Iowa is far from over. To make a contribution and supoprt the LUV Iowa effort CLICK HERE. |