House Republican Leader Backs Anti-Gay Marriage Legislation
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, listens during an interview in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Debt ceilings are hit because of spending problems in Washington and 'to increase the debt ceiling it ought to be tied to reforms that finally solve the spending problem,' Scalise said.
Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesU.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the chief Republican vote-counter in the House, has signed-on as a co-sponsor of legislation described as an effort to protect people opposed to gay marriage from being penalized by the government.
The Louisianan, who as majority whip ranks No. 3 in the his party's leadership ranks, after Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, added his name Tuesday to the bill dubbed the "First Amendment Defense Act." The two Republican lawmakers who wrote the bill, Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho and Senator Mike Lee of Utah have cast it as a way to clarify and strengthen religious liberty protections in federal law, "by safeguarding those individuals and institutions who promote traditional marriage from government retaliation."