Republican Congressman Steve King says he is not optimistic those who share his viewpoint on “traditional” marriage will prevail. Voters in Maine, Maryland and Minnesota all voted to support same-sex marriage and an Iowa Supreme Court justice who participated in the 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa was retained. King says that likely means same-sex marriage is here to stay. “That’s, I think, the kind of prediction that we can expect from looking at these results around the country,” King says. “Here in Iowa, there’s not going to be a vote on it that I can see and if that’s the case and another two years go by, I would never say never…but it doesn’t look very optimistic for people who believe in traditional marriage as I do.”

King supports the “Defense of Marriage Act” — a 1996 federal law that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. King says he’s not sure that law would be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. “Justice Roberts has delivered us a decision on ObamaCare that will forever cause us to wonder and speculate as to how he might come down,” King says, “and he right now is the swing vote on the Supreme Court.” King has been a frequent and vocal opponent of “ObamaCare” — calling for it to be “pulled up by the roots” and repealed. But Barack Obama’s victory this past Tuesday means King now is exploring options like trying to “shut down” federal funding to implement parts of ObamaCare and encouraging states to balk at some of the provisions.

“I’m not sure any of that can get done. I want to look at all of those options, but it looks to me like the people in America voted for dependency,” King says, “not only dependency with regard to health care, but dependency with regard to believing that government is going to take more and better care of them and they’re going to ask somebody else to pay the bill rather than themselves.” King made his comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs at 7:30 tonight (Friday) on Iowa Public Television.

(Radio Iowa)