President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)

The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriages. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., grins as he emerges from the closed-door Senate Democratic Caucus leadership election at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Democrats met behind closed doors at the Capitol to choose their leadership team for the new Congress that begins in January. The session was quick and upbeat, with no challengers. 

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., speaks during the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense, May 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / The Washington Post via AP, Pool, File)

The decision adds to the uncertainty facing the legislation, as it gives interest groups and other lawmakers opposing the bill more time to rally Republicans against it. But supporters hope that by pushing the vote back, they will relieve election-year pressure from some conservative voters and persuade more Republicans to support the legislation.

President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on his way to his Rehoboth Beach, Del., home after his most recent COVID-19 isolation, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The estimated $740 billion package heads next to the House, where lawmakers are poised to deliver on Biden’s priorities, a stunning turnaround of what had seemed a lost and doomed effort that suddenly roared back to political life. Democrats held united, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The $739 billion package package would address health care and climate, raising taxes on high earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned his colleagues in the 50-50 Senate that final passage will be hard.

This Nov. 27, 2019, file photo shows “ghost guns” on display at the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department in San Francisco. (AP Photo / Haven Daley, File)
,

The Biden administration will come out with its long-awaited ghost gun rule — aimed at reining in privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up at crime scenes — as soon as Monday, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference about the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 26, 2020. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Years in the making, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is among some 200 bills that have been introduced over the past century that have tried to ban lynching in America. It is named for the Black teenager from Chicago whose brutal killing in Mississippi in 1955 became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights era.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, speaks to the media after Senate Democrats met privately with President Joe Biden, Jan. 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. ( AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana, File)

Voting legislation that’s a top priority for Democrats and civil rights leaders seemed headed for defeat as the Senate opened Tuesday, a devastating setback as two holdout Democratic senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster.

On the first full day of Democratic control, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., walks to the chamber after meeting with new senators from his caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump over the Capitol riot will begin the week of Feb. 8, the first time a former president will face such charges after leaving office.

Dick Durbin

It may be the worst-kept political secret in Springfield, and now the chatter has reached fever pitch.