Legislative
Update
11/07/2003
THE
SENATE
LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE - WEEK ENDING
NOVEMBER 7, 2003
CONGRESS
IN SESSION
THE
PRESIDENCY
Staff
members of the Religious
Freedom Coalition were
on hand to witness the
historic signing of the Partial
Birth Abortion Ban
by President George W.
Bush. Prior to signing
the act into law the
President said,
"For years, a
terrible form of
violence has been
directed at children
only inches from birth
while the law looked
away. Today, at last the
American people and our
government have
confronted the violence
and come to the defense
of the innocent
child."
RFC
Chairman William J.
Murray reacted to the
signing saying,
"The signing of the
Partial Birth Abortion
Ban by President George
W. Bush marks a turning
point in the attitude of
America. The nation has
begun to turn away from
the culture of death it
was led toward for
decades by the abortion
industry."
The
bill-signing ceremony
was held at the Ronald
Reagan Building and
International Trade
Center a few blocks from
the White House because
of the large crowd of
supporters expected.
About 600 people
squeezed into the
building's amphitheater
to witness the signing.
Among those present were
Dr. Jerry Falwell, Dr.
James Dobson, Chuck
Colson and many Senators
and congressmen
including House
Speaker Hastert.
(Video of signing click
here)
I
spoke with Attorney
General John Ashcroft
after the signing of the
Partial Birth Abortion
Ban. The Attorney
General will vigorously
defend the Partial Birth
Abortion Ban against
judicial attack. Within
an hour of the signing
of the Partial Birth
Abortion Ban, a federal
judge in Nebraska had
already issued an
injunction against it.
The ACLU can somehow get
to pick the left-wing
judges it wants. The
judge in question had
previously found
Nebraska's state ban on
partial birth abortion
unconstitutional. The
abortionists will fight
to the bitter end to
keep every type of
infant murder legal.
(See personal note at
bottom about the signing
ceremony)
THE
SENATE
THE
JUDICIAL BATTLE
Rev.
Al Sharpton has
sided with Republican
conservatives in the
battle to confirm Judge
Janice Rogers-Brown
to the nation's second
highest court. On
Tuesday Rev. Sharpton,
who is running for
president, said she
should receive an
"up or down
vote" and not be
filibustered. Since the
vast majority of
Senators would vote for
her, a group of
extremist Senators who
are in the pocket of
special interest liberal
groups such as the NAACP
plan a filibuster. Al
Sharpton's statement is
a huge break in the
liberal coalition to
block the appointment of
conservative minorities
to federal judgeships.
Liberals
such as Julian Bond of
the NAACP have said
Rogers-Brown is
..."outside the
mainstream,"
despite the fact that
76% of California voters
cast votes for her in
1998 to return to the
Supreme Court of that
state. News of
Sharpton's statement
shocked a conference
being held that same day
by liberal activists
wanting to stop her and
other minority
conservatives from
serving in higher
offices. When told of Al
Sharpton's comments,
Wade Henderson of the
Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights said,
"I don't believe
it. That can't be true.
It would be shockingly
surprising."
Henderson, like Julian
Bond, believes that all
blacks should believe as
they do or not be
allowed to serve as
judges or in any other
higher office. They have
a common hatred for
Secretary of State Colin
Powell and Presidential
advisor Condi Rice
because they are the
"wrong kind of
blacks."
Rev.
Al Sharpton's comments
bring some real problems
to other Democrat
presidential hopefuls,
in particular Senator
John Edwards of
South Carolina. Edwards
is part of the
filibuster of
conservative black
judges and comes from a
state where most
Democrat voters are
black. Sharpton's poll
numbers continue to rise
in South Carolina while
Edwards' numbers
continue to drop. This
could be the beginning
of the end for Democrat
racism against
conservative black
judges.
On
Thursday Judge Janice
Rogers-Brown was passed
out of the Judiciary
Committee on a
party-line vote, with
every Democrat voting
against her. Senator
Frist will call for a
vote on the Senate floor
within days and it will
be seen at that time if
the extremist Senators
will be able to continue
a filibuster against
her.
A
REAL FILIBUSTER
Next
Wednesday a
"real"
filibuster will occur in
the Senate over the
blockade of federal
judges by extremist
Democrat Senators. Senate
Majority Leader Bill
Frist has called for
debate, starting next
Wednesday at 6:00 PM
through midnight next
Thursday, on three
federal judge appointees
who have been blocked by
the Democrats. During
that time a press
conference will be held
hourly by Republicans to
put a media spotlight on
the stalling of good
judges by extremist
Democrat Senators.
During
this "real"
filibuster at least
fifty (50) Republican
Senators must be in the
chamber at all times. On
the other hand, only one
Democrat needs be there.
I have reported in this
Legislative Update
numerous times that
there is great public
misunderstanding of the
filibuster process. Yes,
we will get media
attention, but we will
take our Senators away
from their important
duties. In my September
12th update I
clearly outlined the
filibuster process and
gave the solid reasons
why an all-day,
all-night filibuster
would only serve the
purposes of the
Democrats. The
thirty-six continuous
hours of debate called
for by Senator Frist
will not move any
Judicial nominees
through, but it is a
brilliant strategy to
expose the extremist
Democrats in the media
where they are clearly
losing this battle. As
of October 28th there
have been 277 newspaper
editorials in 38 states
against the Democrats
and only 46 editorials
in 21 different
newspapers in favor of
their extremist tactics
against judges appointed
by George W. Bush. This
36 hour demonstration
will only add more heat
to the media fire
against the Democrat
extremist Senators who
are blocking these
judges.
CARE
ACT
Senator
Tom Daschle is holding
up the Charity, Aid,
Recovery and Empowerment
Act (CARE)
despite the fact that
Democrat Senator Joe
Lieberman (D-CT) asked
for speedy passage of
the bill. The CARE Act
would provide certain
tax breaks that would
increase giving to
charities. The bill was
sponsored in the House
by Congressman Joe Pitts
and passed there by a
huge margin of 408 to 13
on September 17th. Back
in April it passed the
Senate by 95 to 5. But,
the House and Senate
versions of the bill are
slightly different and
those differences must
be resolved in a
conference committee.
Senator Daschle is using
procedural blocks to
stop the conference
committee members from
the Senate from being
appointed. He claims he
just wants more
Democrats on the
conference committee.
The question is why?
There is virtually
nothing to negotiate.
Regardless of what he
does there will still be
more Republicans on the
conference committee
than Democrats so there
is no chance to change
the final versions
anyway. It may simply be
because the CARE Act is
part of the President's
Faith Based initiative.
Senator Daschle simply
does not want charities
to do what can be done
by the government with
your tax dollars. To
contact Senator Daschle click
here.
THE
HOUSE
HOLLY'S
LAW
On
November 6th Monty and
Helen Patterson wrote an
open letter to the media
that would bring tears
to almost anyone except
the most callous
abortion supporter. The
letter can be read in
its entirety at
Congressman De Mint's Internet
site. In the letter
the Pattersons detail
how their teenage
daughter Holly was
killed by the abortion
drug RU-486 which was
approved by the FDA
under the administration
of Bill Clinton, for the
purpose of murdering
unborn infants. To rush
the abortion drug to
market the FDA defined
pregnancy as a
"life-threatening"
illness. The drug will
cure this
"illness" by
causing a miscarriage if
it is taken within seven
weeks of a woman's last
period. The drug was
approved even though it
had caused numerous
deaths in women in
Europe where it was
approved earlier. No
American drug company
would manufacture it
because of liability
issues. It is
manufactured in China by
a chemical company
controlled by their
military.
Congressman
DeMint (R-SC) has
offered a bill to pull
RU-486 off the market
and named it after Holly
Peterson who died of
bleeding caused by the
drug in September. Holly
was a 17 year-old minor
when she was impregnated
by a 24- year old man.
The man then assisted
her in obtaining the
drug from Planned
Parenthood, an
organization which has
killed more human beings
than the Nazis did. So
far Holly's Law (HR
3453) has 59 co-sponsors
in the House. Has your
congressman agreed to
sponsor this important
lifesaving bill? Contact
your congressman. Senator
Brownback (R-KS)
will introduce a
companion bill in the
Senate.
William
J Murray, Chairman
Religious
Freedom Coalition
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