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A panel in the Republican-controlled U.S. House on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have enabled veterans with same-sex spouses to receive partner benefits wherever they live in the country.

By a 12-13 vote, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs failed to pass an amendment from Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) along the lines of the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act, legislation that would change Title 38 of the U.S. Code to ensure the flow of spousal benefits to gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans.

Introducing the amendment, Titus said the measure was intended to end an injustice affecting thousands of veterans who are being denied crucial benefits based on their sexual orientation and state of residence.

“This inequality for those who wore the uniform of the United States armed forces and their families is unacceptable,” Titus said.

Although the vote was a largely along party lines with Republicans voting “no” and Democrats voting “yes,” Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.), a co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, was the only Republican who broke with his party to vote “yes” on the amendment. All votes cast against the amendment were from Republicans.

Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said he opposed the amendment because it would interfere with states that have enacted laws related to marriage.

“Deference to the state is not motivated by hostility, it is motivated by adherence to the Constitution,” Miller said. “As such, I believe that it is not appropriate to usurp the states’ power to democratically define marriage for their citizenry — not for personal belief, and not for bureaucratic convenience.”

In his remarks, Miller invoked a recent federal court decision upholding Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage as evidence that state laws are still standing that restrict marriage to one man, one woman. That decision upholding Lousiana’s marriage ban is one among more than 35 other rulings that have overturned prohibitions on same-sex marriage in other states.

After the Supreme Court ruled against Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration began extending spousal benefits to individuals in same-sex marriages throughout the country for the most part regardless whether the state in which reside recognize their union.

But a year after the ruling, the administration deemed that because Section 103(c) of Title 38 of the U.S. Code — which governs veterans benefits — looks to the state of residence, not the state of celebration, in determining whether a couple is married, it could not afford spousal benefits to veterans in same-sex marriages if they live in a non-marriage equality state.

Although the administration has developed a workaround for some benefits, it still won’t afford important benefits like ChampVA (health care for spouses of disabled veterans), higher disability compensation for disabled veterans with dependents, full access to VA home loans and many survivor benefits for widows.

Titus’ amendment was intended for a bill introduced by Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) called the Our Vets Deserve Better Act, which would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to meet with existing VA health care advisory committees no later than 30 days following the bill’s enactment. After the Titus amendment failed, Miller removed the legislation from the agenda at that committee meeting.

One notable Republican who voted “no” on the amendment was Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who’s considered one of four sitting House Republicans to support marriage equality.

Although he said “the current system is not fair” for gay veterans, Jolly said he couldn’t bring himself to support the amendment because he felt it was non-germane to the larger bill.

“Frankly, if I’m Mr. Heck today, I’m wondering what the Heck has happened to my bill,” Jolly said. “Legislation I introduced on advisory panels is going to be turned into legislation to carry matters related to same-sex benefits. And on germaneness, I have a concern. I’m certainly not going to raise a point of order, but I have hard time getting to ‘yes’ on this simply because this is not the Heck bill.”

Despite his “no” vote, Jolly called for another committee markup or some other kind of forum in which the full committee could debate the measure as a standalone bill.

Also voting “no” on the amendment was Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), another co-sponsor of ENDA. He’s set to attend the upcoming annual dinner for the National Log Cabin Republicans in D.C. on September 17.

But a number of Democrats spoke out in support of the amendment, including Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), one of the openly gay members of Congress, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas).

Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), another openly gay member of Congress who’s running to become the next governor of Maine, also spoke in favor of the measure on the basis that it would afford crucial benefits to veterans in same-sex marriages.

“Access to those benefits should not be conditional upon who a veterans is married to, what state they got married in,” Michaud said. “This is common-sense measure that shows our respect and gratitude to all of our veterans.”

Lori Hensic, director of research and policy for the LGBT military group known as the American Military Partner Association, criticized lawmakers who rejected the bill.

“The ability of our nation’s veterans, no matter their sexual orientation, to access their earned benefits should be an issue that transcends partisan politics,” Hensic said. “It’s a sad reflection on the state of our Congress when our elected officials cannot put aside their differences to end this discrimination.”

Read the full opening remarks from Titus as before introduced the amendment below: