House Republicans Tie DOMA Defense To House Rules

House Republicans on Wednesday agreed to include DOMA defense in a proposed House rules package.

According to The Huffington Post, which obtained a copy of the draft language, Republicans are likely to approve the package on Thursday when the 113^th Congress starts.

The language authorizes the House legal team, known as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), to continue defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. DOMA is the 1996 law which forbids federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

The House is defending the law in at least 12 cases, including Windsor v. United States, which the Supreme Court will hear in the spring.

“[T]he Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group continues to speak for, and articulate the institutional position of the House in all litigation in which it appears, including in Windsor v. United States,” the document states.

A spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday criticized the move.

“Today, House Republicans will send a clear message to LGBT families: their fiscal responsibility mantra does not extend to their efforts to stand firmly on the wrong side of the future,” Drew Hammill told The Huffington Post.

“As House Democrats have time and time again made clear, the BLAG does not speak for all Members of the House of Representatives and we will continue to oppose this wasteful use of taxpayer funds to defend DOMA.”

House Republicans have authorized $2 million to defend the law.

Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry, the nation's largest advocate for marriage equality, called the move “disheartening.”

“It's truly disheartening that, on a day of new beginnings on Capitol Hill, the leadership of the House of Representatives is advancing a measure, through its rules, to continue spending taxpayer dollars on expensive lawyers to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court,” Solomon said in a statement. “This law has been struck down as unconstitutional 10 times, with support from judges appointed by Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes. It's past time for the Republican leadership to listen to their constituents, a majority of whom support the freedom to marry, and stop wasting precious resources in an effort to treat fellow Americans as second-class citizens."