S.Amdt. 1494Senate114th Congress (2015-2017)2nd degree

To revise the definition of spouse for purposes of veterans benefits in recognition of new State definitions of spouse.

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Senate amendment not agreed to: Amendment SA 1494, under the order of 6/4/2015, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, was not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 53 - 42. Record Vote Number: 203.

June 4, 2015

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Floor

June 4, 2015

Floor

Roll call votes on amendments in Senate: Amendment SA 1494, under the order of 6/4/2015, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, was not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 53 - 42. Record Vote Number: 203.

June 4, 2015

Floor

Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S3734, S3739-3740, S3753-3754)

June 4, 2015

Floor

Amendment SA 1494, under the order of 6/4/2015, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, was not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 53 - 42. Record Vote Number: 203.

June 4, 2015

Floor

Senate amendment submitted

June 3, 2015

Floor

Senate amendment proposed (on the floor): Amendment SA 1494 proposed by Senator Reed for Senator Shaheen to Amendment SA 1463.(consideration: CR S3667; text: CR S3667)

June 3, 2015

Floor

Senate amendment submitted

June 3, 2015

Floor

Amendment SA 1494 proposed by Senator Reed for Senator Shaheen to Amendment SA 1463. (consideration: CR S3667; text: CR S3667) To revise the definition of spouse for purposes of veterans benefits in recognition of new State definitions of spouse.

June 3, 2015

Votes

1 roll call on this amendment

SENATE

Roll Call Available

June 4, 2015 at 1:48 PM

On the Amendment S.Amdt. 1494 to S.Amdt. 1463 to H.R. 1735 (Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016)

Majority required: 3/5 (60%)

Failed

53 - 42

Text

Submitted

Formatted text PDF

SA 1494. Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Brown,
Ms. Hirono, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Peters, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Mr. Markey, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Wyden)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463
proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities of the
Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1085. DEFINITION OF SPOUSE FOR PURPOSES OF VETERANS
BENEFITS TO REFLECT NEW STATE DEFINITIONS OF
SPOUSE.

(a) Spouse Defined.--Section 101 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``of the opposite sex'';
and
(2) by striking paragraph (31) and inserting the following
new paragraph:
``(31)(A) An individual shall be considered a `spouse' if--
``(i) the marriage of the individual is valid in the State
in which the marriage was entered into; or
``(ii) in the case of a marriage entered into outside any
State--
``(I) the marriage of the individual is valid in the place
in which the marriage was entered into; and
``(II) the marriage could have been entered into in a
State.
``(B) In this paragraph, the term `State' has the meaning
given that term in paragraph (20), except that the term also
includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.''.
(b) Marriage Determination.--Section 103(c) of such title
is amended by striking ``according to'' and all that follows
through the period at the end and inserting ``in accordance
with section 101(31) of this title.''.
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