FRC Calls House Ethics Committee on Illegal Action

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Apr 15, 2010, 03:13 ET

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement regarding a decision by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly called the Ethics Committee, to violate the Defense of Marriage Act by recognizing same-sex "marriage" in newly released financial disclosure forms. The Defense of Marriage Act was adopted in 1996 by wide bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

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"The unethical House Ethics Committee may be appeasing this radical special interest group but they are destroying their credibility and trampling federal law in the process. This Committee, charged with upholding congressional ethical, legal and financial standards, is violating a law passed overwhelmingly by Congress which for federal purposes always defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

"Just like the recent revelation that the Census Bureau is illegally encouraging same-sex couples to identify themselves as 'married' on the census form, this action represents an attempt to chip away at enforcement of a law that homosexual activists don't like, but have been unable to overturn either judicially or legislatively.

"This demonstrates once again why the approval ratings of Congress are at historic lows.* The American people are fed up with a Congress which refuses to apply laws to itself that apply to everyone else.

"I urge the House Leadership and President Obama to call on the Ethics Committee to reverse course and follow the law which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

"I think there should be disclosure of relationships that could be a conflict of interest, but this again appears to be the back door to elevating same-sex relationships to the level of marriage, which the federal law clearly forbids.

"It is clear that this Congress and this Administration has trouble operating according to the established laws of this country. This further underscores why this Congress needs to be replaced."

* Congressional approval rating at 17 percent in the latest CBS/NY Times Poll.

SOURCE Family Research Council