WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic measure to revive the Equal Rights Amendment, dealing yet another blow to supporters who have pushed for more than five decades to amend the Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex.
Democrats failed to win the necessary 60 votes to move forward with the resolution, which would have removed a 1982 deadline for state ratification and reopened the process to amend the Constitution.
The 51-47 vote included support from two Republicans, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 鈥 well short of the 10 GOP votes needed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put the resolution up for a vote this week, even as it was unlikely to pass. He said it was especially timely in the wake of the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision last year and the constitutional right to an abortion.
鈥淲omen in America have far fewer rights today than they did even a year ago,鈥 Schumer said.
After the vote, Schumer said the Senate is 鈥渘ot giving up,鈥 and would keep trying to pass the measure.
Congress sent the amendment, which guarantees men and women equal rights under the law, to the states in 1972. It gave states seven years to ratify it, later extending the deadline to 1982. But the amendment wasn鈥檛 ratified by the required three-quarters of states before the deadline.
Three years ago, however, becoming the 38th and final state needed.
At the same time, several states 鈥 including Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky and South Dakota 鈥 have attempted to remove their prior approval.
States can support the federal version individually, though it is not ratified into the U.S. Constitution, so those ratifications remain mostly symbolic.
In a statement of policy, the White House said that President Joe Biden 鈥渟trongly supports鈥 extending the deadline and that it is long past time.
鈥淕ender equality is not only a moral issue 鈥 the full participation of women and girls across all aspects of our society is essential to our economic prosperity, our security, and the health of our democracy,鈥 the White House said.
Republicans have argued that Democrats are trying to rewrite history.
鈥淭he Democrats鈥 novel unconstitutional approach bypasses states鈥 rights and circumvents the process our founders put in place,鈥 said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., after the vote. 鈥淭his is simply another liberal wish list item meant to drive a political wedge.鈥
