May 18 (Bloomberg) -- A Senate panel approved a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the U.S. as Democrats accused Republicans of staging an election-year stunt to stir up their voting base.

The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee approved the amendment on a 10-8 party-line vote in a meeting marked by an angry exchange between the Republican chairman and a Democratic member. The measure heads to the full Senate with little chance of passage because it would require a two-thirds majority and Republicans have just 55 of the 100 seats.

Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee plans a floor vote on June 5.

``This issue is going to be resolved by the courts or this body,'' said Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, in urging support for the proposed amendment. Republicans said judges shouldn't be allowed to legalize gay marriage and only a constitutional amendment would prevent that.

``This is a terrible thing to do,'' Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said of the amendment. ``Almost as terrible is to do it in here in this way,'' he said, objecting that the session was in a room off the Senate floor not open to the general public instead of the committee's usual hearing room.

Feingold said the measure ``has no chance of passing this year'' and questioned why Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, left the room for a few minutes to attend to other business on the Senate floor if the measure was so important. Feingold said he, too, would leave because he didn't want to contribute to a quorum.

Shouting Match

``I do not need to be lectured by you as to my going to the floor,'' Specter responded. When Feingold tried to interrupt, Specter shouted him down, saying, ``I have the floor. I have the floor, Senator Feingold, you know better than that.''

Specter noted the presence of staff members and the press and said the meeting was public.

``If you want to leave, good riddance,'' he shouted at Feingold. Specter said he backed the bill in committee to get it to the Senate floor. ``It is a matter for the full Senate,'' Specter said, adding he would oppose it on the Senate floor.

The proposed amendment declares that marriage ``shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman'' and bars the federal and state governments from allowing any other form of marriage.

Democrats Object

Democrats said the Senate should deal with more important matters, such as immigration reform, the Medicare drug program and wiretapping without court warrants.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's ranking Democrat, said the measure is ``part of an election-year political agenda'' to satisfy the Republican Party's right wing.

``The Constitution's too important to be used for such base partisan politics,'' Leahy said. ``There is no imminent crisis.'' He questioned whether the measure would also cover polygamy or civil unions. ``We've always left this up to the states,'' he said.

To become part of the Constitution, the proposed amendment would have to pass the Senate and House of Representatives with at least a two-thirds majority and then be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.

Campaigning in the 2004 election, President George W. Bush said he supported a constitutional amendment ``to protect the sanctity of marriage by ensuring it is always recognized as the union of a man and a woman as a husband and wife.''

Poll Results

Bush and Republicans have been losing ground in public opinion polls because of the Iraq war, rising gasoline prices and other issues. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted May 11-15 showed that 56 percent of those surveyed said they favored Democrats to control Congress after the election.

A Gallup organization poll taken May 5-7 found that Bush's approval rating among Republicans fell 11 percentage points to 69 percent from the beginning of the year. A Pew Research Center poll taken last month showed Bush's numbers declining as much among white evangelical Protestants as among the general public.

The Bush administration has been coordinating with Congress on social issues such as a gay-marriage ban and pledging to fill judicial vacancies, looking for confrontations with Democrats.

Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell won the Republican nomination for governor May 3 on a platform opposing abortion and gay rights.

Even so, Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in March that too much focus on abortion and gay marriage may weaken Republican support in the Northeast and other regions where economic and other issues count more.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Arthur in Washington at barthur@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 18, 2006 14:50 EDT