White House waits on marriage
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 20, 2006

President Bush's spokesman said the White House supports the constitutional amendment that passed a Senate committee Thursday to define marriage as between a man and a woman, but the spokesman would not call it a priority and said the administration is taking a wait-and-see approach to next month's full Senate vote.

"I don't know whether you want to get into priorities, you know," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said. "I think what you let the Hill do, is that they schedule their votes, they schedule their debates. But the president does support the amendment."

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the Federal Marriage Amendment on a party-line vote, sending it to the floor where Majority Leader Bill Frist says it will receive a vote in three weeks.

In anticipation of that vote, social conservatives this week called for Mr. Bush to back up his statements of support during the 2004 campaign by lobbying for the amendment now, the same way he has pushed other top legislative priorities. the rest