Legislative
Update
10/24/2003
THE
SENATE
LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE - WEEK ENDING
OCTOBER 24, 2003
CONGRESS
IN SESSION
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THE
SENATE
THE
FINAL PARTIAL BIRTH
ABORTION
VICTORY
President
George W. Bush
pledged that, if elected
to office, he would sign
a Partial
Birth Abortion Ban.
Three years later, he
now has the opportunity.
The Partial Birth
Abortion Ban (PBA)
passed its final
legislative hurdle on
Tuesday, October 21st.
The conference report
which adjusted the
language of the House
and Senate versions to
match, passed the Senate
by 64 to 34 even though
the original vote on the
bill was only 52-46. See
voting record here.
Why the change in votes?
The Democrats owe the
abortion industry big
time and will use any
procedural means to
defeat any pro-life
legislation. But on a
final vote many
Democrats facing
election next year did
not want it on their
record that they favored
the killing of a baby
that was 90% out of the
womb. On the House side,
the conference report
passed by a huge margin
on October 2nd.
As
soon as a large ceremony
can be arranged at the
White House, the
President will sign the
Partial Birth Abortion
Ban into law. Does this
mean we have won?
Unfortunately not. The
ACLU and other pro-death
organizations will file
lawsuits in federal
court to obtain an
injunction against the
law within hours after
President Bush signs it
into law. Injunctions
against the law will
remain in effect for
years and the killing
will continue until the
law is reviewed by the
Supreme Court. Given the
current make-up of the
Supreme Court, the PBA
may well be found
unconstitutional. This
is why the fight to get
pro-life Bush judges
approved by the Senate
is so important. The
nature of the courts
must be changed. (For
more information see
presidency below)
RELIGIOUS
LIBERTIES RESTORATION
ACT.
On
Wednesday I met with Senator
Wayne Allard (R-CO)
who has proposed the
Religious Liberties
Restoration Act
(S-1558), which would
bar arrogant members of
the unelected judiciary
from making decisions
against the Pledge of
Allegiance, the display
of the Ten Commandments
and the National Motto.
Under Article III of the
Constitution the
Congress has the right
to restrict the
jurisdiction and the
power of the federal
courts. This is not
unusual and in fact a
provision to restrict
judicial review is
routinely added to
several new laws during
each session. When it
comes to social issues,
however, the Congress
has been reluctant to
use this power. The last
jurisdiction provision
on a bill prohibited the
federal courts from
ruling on a forestry
bill that singled out
Senator Daschle's home
state for preferential
treatment.
As
of today, Senator Allard
has only ten co-sponsors
for the Religious
Liberties Restoration
Act. Before moving
forward, more
co-sponsors are needed.
Please contact your
Senator and tell him how
you feel about S-1558.
The companion bill in
the House (H-3191) is
offered by Congressman
Pickering (R-MS).
THE
JUDICIAL BATTLE
The
newest battle in the war
over judges in the
Senate centers on an
African-American
conservative who is not
"black enough"
for white liberals like
Ted Kennedy and Hillary
Clinton. The
attacks against black
conservatives,
particularly by
liberals, are incredibly
racist and insensitive.
A cartoon, accompanied
by a statement from the
left-wing group People
for the American Way,
depicts Judge Janice
Brown with an enormous
Afro hairdo and wearing
the apron of a house
servant. It likens her
to black Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas,
Secretary of State Colin
Powell and National
Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice, all of
whom are black.
Bottom
line: The white liberals
in the Senate don't want
any black conservatives
in positions of power
because they fear other
blacks will look up to
those black conservative
as their leaders rather
than looking to the
white liberals. White
liberals believe it is
their destiny to be
worshipped as gods by
the African-American
population and they
don't want any
competition.
THE
HOUSE
Special
note: The House
adjourned for a break on
Tuesday and there was no
legislative action
Wednesday, Thursday or
Friday. Members will
return next week;
however, Majority Whip
Roy Blunt has targeted
November 7th as the last
legislative day of the
year.
MARRIAGE
PROTECTION
The
Marriage
Protection Act of 2003
proposed by Congressman
Hostettler (R-IN), who
is a member of the House
Subcommittee on the
Constitution, is picking
up momentum as many
begin to realize it can
be passed a lot faster
than a Constitutional
Amendment. His bill
would strengthen the
already existing Defense
of Marriage Act passed
in 1996 by restricting
the jurisdiction of
federal courts. In Hill
lingo this is referred
to as the "super-DOMA"
because it uses Article
III, Section I and II of
the Constitution to
restrict the
jurisdiction of federal
courts, including the
Supreme Court. This is
not an unusual act as
mentioned above in the
commentary on Senator
Allard's Religious
Liberties Restoration
Act.
I
fully support
Congressman Hostettler
in his efforts to pass
the Marriage
Protection Act. The
Religious Freedom
Coalition will work on
two tracks to protect
marriage. We will
support an Amendment to
the Constitution and we
will support strong
legislation such as the
Marriage Protection Act.
If nothing else, we can
have Congressman
Hostettler's legislation
in place while the
lengthy process of a
constitutional amendment
plays itself out.
For
background on the attack
on the institution of
marriage and the family
I highly recommend The
Broken Hearth by
Dr. William Bennet.
HOUSES
OF WORSHIP FREE SPEECH
ACT
Congressman
Walter Jones still needs
support for the Houses
of Worship Free Speech
Act (HR 235).
A special
Internet site set up
to support the bill
states: "HR 235 was
introduced to liberate
clergy from the muzzle
imposed by the absolute
ban on all speech that
may be regarded as
"political,"
and thereby enable them
to speak out on all
vital moral and
political questions of
the day. It will free
houses of worship from
the fear and anxiety and
uncertainty created by
the threat that the IRS
will impose financial
penalties or revoke
tax-exempt status
altogether." The
RFC has prepared a
downloadable MS Power
Point presentation in
support of HR 235.
Click here to view Power
Point. If your
congressman has not
co-sponsored this
important legislation,
please contact him. View
a list of current
congressional sponsors here.
OATH
OF ALLEGIANCE ACT
Congressman
Jim Ryun (R-KS) has
introduced an act that
codifies the Oath
of Allegiance given
to new citizens. The
current oath that has
been used for decades is
suddenly being changed
by an unelected
bureaucrat in the
Citizenship and
Immigration Service.
Some changes in the oath
are disturbing. The old
oath requires that new
citizens swear to
"...renounce and
adjure all allegiance
and fidelity to any
foreign prince,
potentate, state or
sovereignty ..."
The new version states
"...I hereby
renounce under oath all
allegiance to a foreign
state." At first it
seems as if it is just
streamlined to modern
English but the actual
change is greater and
far more dangerous. A
member of the Taliban
could take the oath and
still be loyal to Osama
bin Laden without ever
having lied, because it
only mentions a foreign
"state." Worse
yet, the new oath does
not require the new
citizens to
"support and defend
the Constitution and the
laws of the United
States against all
enemies foreign and
domestic." To move
forward and defend the
Oath of Allegiance in
its current form
Congressman Ryun needs
fellow Members of
Congress to co-sponsor
HR-3191. Contact
your congressman.
Congressman
Jim Ryun is a former
Olympic runner. Just a
few weeks ago both he
and I ran the Army
Ten Miler in
Washington, DC.
Congressman Ryun, who is
56, finished the Ten
Miler in 1 hour 18
minutes at a pace of
7:49. My daughter Katie,
who had an emergency
appendectomy in
Guatemala eight weeks
prior to the race, ran
with me. Because of her
operation we ran at
about a 10 minute pace,
finishing in 1 hour and
40 minutes.
THE
PRESIDENCY
THE
PRESIDENT AND PARTIAL
BIRTH ABORTION
As
mentioned above, while
running for President,
George W. Bush stated he
would sign into law a
Partial Birth Abortion
Ban if passed by
Congress. Shortly after
that election Senator
James Jeffords, who had
run as a Republican,
declared himself an
"Independent;"
thus the Republicans
lost their majority and
left-wing Democrat
Senator Tom Daschle
became Majority Leader.
Daschle refused to allow
the Partial Birth
Abortion Ban onto the
floor for a vote for two
years. In 2002 President
Bush crisscrossed the
country campaigning for
Republicans to win back
the Senate. His bet paid
off, and the Senate
majority went back to
the Republican Party by
a margin of one vote.
Immediately work began
on a new Partial Birth
Abortion Ban and as
mentioned above, it has
passed both Houses of
Congress despite every
stalling procedure that
could be used by
liberals such as Ted
Kennedy and Hillary
Clinton.
NOW
THE BIG NEWS: Despite a
Senate vote of 64 to 34
in favor of the ban on
partial birth abortion,
every single one of the
nine Democrat
Presidential candidates
have come out against
the ban. Dick Gephardt,
who voted to pass a ban
over the veto of
President Clinton, now
says he is against it.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich,
who also voted for
abortion restrictions
during his four terms in
the House, announced he
was against the bill.
All three of the
Senators running for
President, Joe
Lieberman, John Kerry
and John Edwards, have
voted against the ban.
The leader of the pack,
former Vermont governor
Howard Dean said,
"This bill will
chill the practice of
medicine and endanger
the lives of countless
women." He forgets
the female babies that
are killed in the
abortion, but of course
they don't get to vote
in the primary. General
Clark's campaign also
stated he was against
the ban on late term
abortions, as did the
"Rev." Al
Sharpton and former
Senator Carol
Moseley-Braun. The vast
majority of Americans
are against partial
birth abortion, which
shows how out of touch
these candidates are.
KICK
THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT OUT
OF THE GOP?
In
the midst of this,
political consultant
Dick Morris has written
a column telling the GOP
to dump the
"religious
right" and move to
the "center".
(Read
the column here) He
said the Ronald Reagan
coalition of economic
conservatives and social
conservatives is dead
and "It is about
time that the Republican
Party realizes that the
Christian right is doing
to it exactly what the
radical black Rainbow
Coalition of Jesse
Jackson did to the
Democratic Party in the
'80s - making them
unelectable. Their
embrace is the kiss of
death. It is not that
the religious right is
wrong. Right or wrong,
it gets in the way of so
much good that the
Republican Party could
achieve if it were not
in the Christian right's
grasp."
Dick
Morris is the political
consultant who made
national news during the
Clinton Administration
when a prostitute
revealed that he would
talk to President
Clinton on the phone
while using her
services.
William
J Murray, Chairman
Religious
Freedom Coalition
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