WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Buck McKeon, chairman of the House’s Armed Services Committee, said on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” that he would rather see Congress fail to pass a defense authorization measure for the first time in 50 years, if it meant allowing military chaplains to conduct gay marriages.

The Senate’s defense authorization bill, which has cleared the Armed Services panel but not the full chamber, does not include the House provision on gay marriage which does not permit military chaplains to conduct same-sex marriages.