In the early-morning hours of March 25, an amendment to the health care reconciliation bill proposed by Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah that would have stripped the District of Columbia of its recently enacted marriage equality law and forced a referendum was defeated by a vote of 59–36. 

Only two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, crossed party lines to vote against the amendment (a vote to keep D.C.’s marriage equality law intact). Two independent senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, also voted no. All Democratic senators present voted no.