Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, released the following statement on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement that foreign national same-sex spouses will now be eligible for any type of visa including work, study, cultural or student exchange and legal immigrant visas.

“Today’s announcement is simply the right thing to do. No one who is legally married should be denied a visa simply because of the gender of their spouse. This is one of the first steps in bringing the functions of the federal government in line with the repeal of DOMA and ensuring equality in benefits for all Americans. This rights an unjustifiable wrong, however, there is more that both the Administration and Congress must do to end discrimination in all federal benefits for same-sex married couples.”

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