Gay marriage not popular in House GOP

Politico reports

Not so long ago, Congress was obsessed with banning gay marriage. Now: not so much.

It’s not that the issue has disappeared from the political landscape. It was front and center at Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire last month, President Barack Obama is taking heat from his left flank for declining to support same-sex marriage and state legislatures across the country are still working to define marriage.

But a week after New York became the biggest state to legalize gay marriage, Capitol Hill is all but silent on the topic. Using the power of the federal government to ban gay marriage was all the rage in Republican circles from the mid-1990s right up through the 2006 mid-term election. But Republicans, more focused on spending, taxes and economic issues, are no longer anxious to tangle over spousal rights for same-sex couples.

“The only person who ever asks me about it is, I think, the media,” said freshman Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.). “When you got the highest unemployment, highest foreclosures and highest bankruptcy, social issues right now take a back seat to putting food on the table.”

The shift in emphasis to economic issues, the departure of iconic GOP cultural warriors such as Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), and polling showing that the American public has become more comfortable with same-sex unions have all combined to push the matter off the congressional plate.

There’s simply no percentage in making it a top priority — or even an item on the agenda — many Republicans say.