The Defense of Marriage Act passed into law in 1996. Walz is the latest lawmaker to sponsor the repeal effort in the House, bringing the number up to 122 representatives. U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York said the bill has been offered every year, but that this year it has gathered the greatest number of sponsors in its history.

Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum are original sponsors of the Respect for Marriage Act which was introduced in March. Sen. Al Franken is an original sponsor in the Senate, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined him this summer. Rep. Collin Peterson is the only DFLer in Minnesota’s delegation that hasn’t signed the repeal.

“Getting married to my wife Gwen and building our life together was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Walz said in a statement. “I simply cannot imagine why we would want to ban our fellow Americans from that commitment. Martin Luther King Jr. once said ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ I believe that arc is getting shorter and I look forward to a day in my lifetime when Americans are not discriminated on based on who they love.”

The repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act would ensure that same-sex couples who have been legally married in the United States would have access to federal benefits such as social security, file jointly on tax forms and enjoy less onerous immigration requirements for binational couples.

Same-sex couples can legally mary in Iowa, New York, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, and the sovereign nations of the Coquille and Suquamish. In addition, couples married in California prior to the passing of Proposition 8 in 2008 hold valid marriage licenses in that state.

“As the march toward full equality for LGBT Americans is seeing some real, concrete progress, the movement to repeal DOMA is steadily growing stronger and more robust,” Nadler said of the 122 sponsors. “The coalition working for LGBT rights in the Congress and the nation as a whole is larger than ever before, and we gain new allies every day. And, just this year, New York State enacted marriage equality, hammering one more nail into the coffin of bigotry and discrimination against gays and lesbians. Dumping DOMA is simply not a question of if, but when.”

“It would be impossible mathematically for new representation to not occur on the west side. The trick is this: If new seats are going to emerge on the west side other seats must be consolidated,” Sanderoff told senators on Wednesday as he outlined the population trends that will drive redistricting decisions.

The goal of redistricting is to equalize the populations of districts as much as possible. That was required under the legal doctrine of one person, one vote, to ensure that each resident’s vote is worth the same.

To deal with slow-growing areas, lawmakers have limited options. Existing seats can be retained by expanding their boundaries to add precincts and population. Eastern New Mexico districts, for example, could be expanded to the west. That approach was taken a decade ago in Senate redistricting to ensure no loss of representation.

Lawmakers also can consolidate two districts into one, and shift one of those seats to a fast-growing part of the state, such as Albuquerque’s west side. Doing that, however, usually means forcing two incumbents to run against each other in the next election — a prospect that no legislator relishes.

“What happens in eastern New Mexico will impact what happens on the west side of Albuquerque,” said Sanderoff.

Some districts in Eastern New Mexico lean Republican too, but with Democrats only holding a 36-33 majority in the House and a 25-17 majority in the Senate, the process will be contentious.

The resolution “condemns the Obama administration’s direction that the Department of Justice should discontinue defending the Defense of Marriage Act; and demands that the Department of Justice continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in all instances.”

House Speaker John Boehner has directed the House’s legal counsel to resume defense of DOMA.

The resolution writers also took a dig at Obama by asserting that he was defending the Affordable Car Act that conservatives view as unconstitutional while denouncing the unconstitutionality of DOMA.

Bachmann is the only member of Congress from Minnesota who has signed on to the resolution.

Here’s the full text:

Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the Obama administration’s discontinuing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

Whereas on February 23, 2011, President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department to drop its defense of a central part of the 1996 law that bars the Federal Government from recognizing same-sex unions, the Defense of Marriage Act, and both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder concluded the law is unconstitutional;

Whereas President Obama himself has said that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman;

Whereas passed by significant majorities in both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, the Defense of Marriage Act has never been overturned in any Federal lawsuit challenging its constitutionality by a Federal Court, yet the Department of Justice has decided not to defend this act in Federal court;

Whereas on the contrary, the Department of Justice is vigorously defending in numerous Federal courts across the country President Obama’s signature health care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), and the related Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), after these bills barely passed both chambers of Congress on party line votes, and whose critical Individual Mandate provision has been declared unconstitutional by, separate Federal district courts in the cases of Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services, Case No.: 3:10-cv-91-RV/EMT (N.D. Fla., Jan. 31, 2011), and Virginia ex rel. Cuccinelli v. Sebelius, No. 3:10cv188-HEH (E.D. Va., filed Dec. 13, 2010); and

Whereas the vast majority of Americans believe that marriage should continue to be what it always has been–the legal and spiritual union between one man and one woman: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress–

(1) condemns the Obama administration’s direction that the Department of Justice should discontinue defending the Defense of Marriage Act; and

(2) demands that the Department of Justice continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in all instances.

Barton has said the idea of separation of church and state is a myth and suggested the federal government should regulate homosexuality. His association with reported anti-Semitic groups prompted the Anti-Defamation League to condemn him earlier this year. He has called holding congressional sessions on Sunday unconstitutional and he has stated that United States’ borders were drawn by God.

“God’s the one who drew up the lines for the nations, so to say open borders is to say, ‘God, you goofed it all up and when you had borders, you shouldn’t have done it,’” he said recently on his radio program. “And so, from a Christian standpoint, you cannot do that. God’s the one who establishes the boundaries of nations.”

Bachmann and Barton have a long relationship going back to Bachmann’s time as state senator. Barton was invited to Minnesota to help Bachmann with legislation on school history standards, she’s appeared his radio show numerous times, and she and Barton have conducted tours in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate to Tea Partiers how religious the founding fathers were.

Barton has come under criticism for what some have called revisionist history in promoting the idea that the Constitution calls for America to be a Christian nation.

The Baptist General Association of Virginia passed a resolution last week that promoted the concept of separation of church and state and singled out Barton’s work, calling him inaccurate and urging its members not to read his work.

In a 2008 interview, Bachmann said of Barton, “I’ve probably been on four of his Spiritual Heritage tours at the Capitol, and the staff knows, whenever David’s going to be in town doing one, if I can get over there, I want to go because I learn something new every time I’m going through one of his tours. He’s a treasure for our nation.”

The classes will be a part of the new Constitutional Conservative Caucus that Bachmann intends to start. It would be separate from the Tea Party Caucus that she founded in the House earlier this year.

“Scholars such as David Barton, members of the media who cherish [the founding] principles such as [Fox News host] Sean Hannity, honorable commentators such as Judge [Andrew] Napolitano, honorable judges and justices, and leading legal minds will and have been invited to speak,” Brooke Bialke, Bachmann’s deputy chief of staff, told AOL News. “Topics ranging from the commerce clause to the intersection of constitutional principles with daily concerns such as Medicare will be covered.”

Andy Birkey reports for The Minnesota Independent.

Presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) (Pete Marovich/ZUMApress.com)

Pundits may differ over which natural disaster analogy was most fitting — tidal wave or  earthquake? — but Republicans made large gains in both chambers of Congress and various statehouses across the country on election day. And while, at the time of writing, races in several key Western states were far from decided, the election night shaped up to be one of few surprises for either party. Republicans guaranteed themselves a majority in the House, while Democrats can rest assured that they’ll retain a majority in the Senate come 2011.

[Congress1] The evening began with quick victories for GOP Senate candidates Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida, raising expectations of a Tea Party-backed surge in Congress. Bellwether House races, including those of Rep. Barron Hill (D-Ind.), Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio), all went for their Republican challengers, causing pundits to revise their estimates for GOP House gains from the 50s up into the 60s, or perhaps higher.

Whether one voted for the Obama health care bill, like Rep. Tom Periello (D), or against it, like Rep. Glenn Nye (D), being a House Democrat in Virginia tonight ended up spelling doom and setting the tone for Democrats’ chances in House races across the country. Even veterans like Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C), chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, were not spared by the GOP wave that swept Southern and Midwestern Democrats. And while DCCC head Rep. Chris Van Hollen criticized the news networks for calling the House for the GOP early, a takeover quickly began to look inevitable.

While liberal Democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson (Fla.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) also lost their seats, groups that had backed them maintained that Democrats lost because they failed to fight and defend their liberal values. “Democrats lost because party leaders never truly fought for popular progressive reforms like the public option and breaking up the big banks, leaving voters uninspired to come to the polls and vote Democratic,” wrote Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green. “What the average voter saw of Democrats was weak, watered-down change — and weak Democratic leaders who cut deals with the very Wall Street banks and insurance companies they are supposed to be fighting.

On the Senate side, however, quick and decisive victories for Gov. Joe Manchin (D) over John Raese (R) in West Virginia and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) over Linda McMahon (R) in Connecticut allowed Democrats to breathe easy about their control of the upper chamber.

“Tomorrow starts the rebuilding, the road of rebuilding America,” Manchin told supporters in his victory speech. “We must start tomorrow. And I really believe that Washington can learn a few things and a few lessons from West Virginia.” What kind of Democrat Manchin will be after having to run so far to the right to win office remains a big open question for Democrats.

A solid defeat for Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, meanwhile, at the hands of Chris Coons (D) put Republican chances of taking the Senate nearly out of reach and revived questions about the efficacy of the Tea Party in aiding a GOP wave. “It gave me no pleasure to say that she was unlikely to win,” said Karl Rove after her loss became clear. “But this again provides a lesson. This is a candidate who was right on the issues but who had mishandled a series of questions brought up by the press.”

Likewise, a victory for the Democrats’ very vulnerable majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, over Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle confirmed the dangers of a Republican nomination process that often stressed ideological purity over electability.

Democratic Senate candidates Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania and Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois got off to strong starts in the polls with high turnout and early reporting from Philadelphia and Chicago, prompting talk of small but significant upsets for the Democrats in those races. But as the rural counties began reporting their tallies, Republican Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and Mark Kirk in Illinois eventually took control of both races. Likewise, Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, who shot out to an early lead over Ken Buck, fell slightly behind as more ballots were counted.

In the governors’ races, Democrats lost seats as well but managed to hang on to victories in close races in Colorado, where Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper held off his American Constitution Party challenger, former Rep. Tom Tancredo, and Minnesota, where Democrat Mark Dayton was the beneficiary of a three-way race and defeated Republican nominee Tom Emmer*. But in key races in other swing states — ones that President Obama will likely have to win to secure re-election in 2012 — Republicans can look forward to being in control. Rick Scott (R) rode the coattails of Rubio’s victory, defeating Alex Sink (D) in Florida, while the close race in Ohio never got close enough for incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland (D), who lost to challenger John Kasich (R).

As for the fate of the Tea Party, early decisive Senate wins for Paul and Rubio were offset by decisive drubbing of Christine O’Donnell and a narrow loss for Angle. In the House, Tea Party candidate Sean Bielat, who at one point looked to be posing a credible challenge to Rep. Barney Frank (D) in Massachusetts, lost by a wide margin — but enough Tea Party candidates claimed seats to form a sizable caucus in the next Congress.

Speaking at the Grand Hyatt Ballroom in Washington, likely House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was unable to hold back his tears. “Listen, I’ll be brief, because we have real work to do, and this is not a time for celebration,” he said, “not when one in 10 of our fellow citizens are out of work … not when we have buried our children under a mountain of debt … not when our Congress is held in such low esteem.

“While our new majority will serve as your voice in the people’s House, we must remember it is the president who sets the agenda for our government. The American people have sent an unmistakable message to him tonight, and that message is: ‘change course.’ We hope President Obama will now respect the will of the people, change course, and commit to making the changes they are demanding. To the extent he is willing to do this, we are ready to work with him.”

*UPDATE: Democrat Mark Dayton continues to lead Republican Tom Emmer in the Minnesota Governor’s Race, but the margin is so slim that a recount appears likely.

With most pundits predicting a GOP takeover, cue the debate about whether a divided government will produce some much-needed compromise or grind things to a halt. In the New York Times op-ed pages today, David Brooks argues that “the road map for his recovery is pretty straightforward,” while Paul Krugman’s main takeaway is, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

A lot of the debate rests upon the rhetoric of Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who’s pretty much a shoo-in to assume the role of Speaker of the House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who recently said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” If this is truly the plan, notes Krugman, then there’s little incentive for Republicans to work with the president on any issue that might make him look like an effective leader.

Brooks, on the other hand, thinks Obama can regain the high ground with independents if he keeps pushing the message that Republicans’ calls for spending cuts are half the answer. “Instead, he will have to go out and do his own thing,” Brooks writes. “That means every day reinforcing the following narrative: the Republicans are only half right. They want to cut things; I want to cut but also replace things. They want to slash government; I want to restructure it. They want destruction; I want renovation.”

The x factor, it seems, is the Tea Party. Will it mount new campaigns and challenges against Republicans in Congress willing to reach across the aisle? And will Republicans cave to its demands at the first signs of discontent? Krugman certainly thinks so, and he predicts a government shutdown as early as next spring.

Correction: This post initially attributed the quote about making Obama a one-term president to Rep. John Boehner. It was actually spoken by Sen. Mitch McConnell. We regret the error.

The leading candidates for the [Appropriations] panel’s chairmanship, Reps. Jerry Lewis (R., Calif.) and Rep. Harold Rogers (R., Ky.), are longtime members of the panel who have been stalwart defenders of earmarks, which allowed lawmakers to direct money to local projects outside the normal federal funding system.

Mr. Lewis was a senior member and chairman of the panel during the George W. Bush [era]. Conservative critics say Republicans allowed spending to run out of control at that time.

“Have Republicans learned their lesson?” asked David Keating, executive director of Club for Growth, a political group that has backed many tea-party candidates. “One way to find out is who they put in charge of Appropriations. If it’s Jerry Lewis, the answer is: Probably not.”

Also up in the air is the chairmanship of the House Energy Committee. The ranking Republican, Rep. Joe Barton (Texas), is also seeking a waiver on the term limit rule, but some colleagues are arguing his public apology to BP executives during the hearings following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be hurting his chances.

Their desire to prove themselves capable of passing legislation is seen most clearly in the leadership of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who’s been busy recruiting a slate of House candidates with a wealth of political experience — even if he’s sometimes loath to admit it:

In touting the Republican candidates, he talks frequently about Stephen Fincher, a cotton farmer and gospel singer from Frog Jump, Tenn., who has never run for office before. But equally important is Rick Berg, who served in the North Dakota legislature for more than 25 years and may knock off longtime Rep. Earl Pomeroy. [...]

That kind of resumé is making some Republican backers anxious. At a dinner for Mr. Bruun at Portland’s University Club, a small group of donors sought assurances the new crop would be different from recent Republican majorities, especially on matters of spending.

“The freshman class is going to be bolder than anyone there,” Mr. McCarthy promised to about 15 financial-services executives who had paid $500 for their steak dinner. “They’re going to be like a stampede of horses.”

But the Journal and some House GOP leaders’ predictions about moderation may include a measure of wishful thinking. Many Republican Tea Party candidates are running on a platform that rails against both parties in power for failing to look seriously at issues like government spending, and they possess a sincere desire to repeal the Democrats’ health care bill — so it seems unlikely that they’ll assume the role of cynical Washington insiders quite so quickly.

Besides, McCarthy’s own rhetoric to donors indicates that the GOP’s public stance is that the freshman class is going to be bold — a message some candidates might just mistakenly take to heart.

Getting into specifics about the cuts you’d like to make is never a popular strategy for candidates on the campaign trail, which explains why most of the answers GOP candidates have given me — scrap the remaining stimulus package dollars, repeal the new health care law, bring non-defense discretionary spending back to 2007-8 budget levels — are pretty vague and insufficient for dealing with the magnitude of the problem. A couple of candidates, however, were willing to talk seriously about entitlement reform — and one got particularly creative.

Trey Gowdy, a Republican who beat Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) in the primary and is looking to win a seat in South Carolina’s 4th district, informed me via his campaign manager that he’d like to consolidate the Commerce, Agriculture and Interior Departments into one agency in order to eliminate duplicative services. His plan wins points for novelty, but it’s unclear what kind of impact it would have besides setting off a lot of bureaucratic turf wars. (Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst at the Cato Institute, likens it to “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”)

Also of note from Gowdy is “a BRAC-like commission to review federal assets that could legitimately be liquidated.” It’s a truly novel proposal — as far as I’ve heard — that’s based on a commission that was set up by Congress to review the Department of Defense’s recommendations to close several military bases. As to what other federal assets might conceivably go on the chopping block, Gowdy didn’t elaborate.

While health care emerged as the top issue on the sites, energy was mentioned as a key issue on 72 percent of both Democrats’ and Republicans’ sites. For Democrats, health care was mentioned on 79 percent of the lawmakers’ sites; energy tied jobs, education and gun rights for second place.

For Republicans, energy was also mentioned on 72 percent of sites, right behind health care and deficits spending. (Interestingly, gun rights was mentioned on 66 percent on Republican websites, 8 percent fewer than the Democrats’ sites.)

But Nate Silver, whose FiveThirtyEight.com was recently acquired by the Times, notes that Democrats are “having trouble articulating a clear set of policy goals,” particularly on energy, where some moderate House Democrats don’t want to draw undue attention to the cap-and-trade program they passed last year.

On energy, the Democrats do have a clearer policy proposal: their bill to introduce a cap-and-trade system, which passed the House last year but not the Senate. Many of the Democrats, however, spoke about “energy independence” in much vaguer terms (as did many Republicans). And a few – like Mike Oliverio, a conservative Democrat in West Virginia — noted their opposition to the cap-and-trade proposal.