Earlier this month, GOP leadership in the U.S. House privately raised the spending cap to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to $3 million. The contract has been adjusted three times since its original $500,000 cap.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of DOMA, but in the meantime, the Center for American Progress looks at how your $3 million in taxpayer money could have been better spent:
Section 3 of DOMA — which defines marriage as between one man and one woman for all federal purposes, including Social Security survivors’ benefits, immigration, and the filing of joint tax returns — has been found unconstitutional in eight federal courts, including the First and Second Circuit Court of Appeals, on issues including bankruptcy, public employee benefits, estate taxes, and immigration.