Congress
In Session
(Lame
Duck)
PRESIDENT
SIGNS "UNDER
GOD" IN PLEDGE BILL
On
Wednesday, November 13th
President
George W. Bush
signed into law a bill
officially titled:
"To reaffirm the
reference to one Nation
under God in the Pledge
of Allegiance." (S-2690).
I covered the passage of
the first draft in the
House (HR-459)
and the final passage of
the bill in the Senate
in previous Legislative
Updates. The new law
takes to task the
findings of the Ninth
Circuit Court for
finding the Pledge
unconstitutional with
the words "under
God" in it, saying
the decision was based
on "erroneous
rationale" and was
"absurd".
This
was a great victory for
those who support the
Pledge! The only down
note was that there was
no ceremonial signing of
the bill at the White
House. Many leaders of
social conservative
organizations including
myself expected to be
invited to the signing.
Instead the President
signed the bill in
private.
THE
"NEW" SENATE
Don't
hold your breath waiting
for major social
conservative legislation
such as the
partial-birth abortion
ban to pass the Senate.
Because of reasons
stated below the Senate
will remain in the hands
of Senator Daschle
(D-SD) and his Democrats
until January. When Senator
Trent Lott (R-MS)
takes over there will be
big changes-- and no
change at the same time.
The Republicans will
take over all the
committee chairmanships;
however, it still will
take sixty votes to pass
anything controversial
such as the
partial-birth abortion
ban.
The
way the Senate is
organized, any one
Senator can block a bill
or a nomination, such as
a Bush judicial
appointment. The bill or
nomination does not go
to the floor unless (1)
the Senator removes his
objection, or (2) there
are sixty votes to move
forward. In January the
Republicans will have
fifty-one votes
(fifty-two votes if Suzanne
Haik Terrell wins in
Louisiana on December
7th.) That is not enough
to move forward
legislation without some
Democrat backing. There
are enough Democrat
votes in the Senate for
conservative economic
issues and defense
issues, so much of the
President's agenda can
move forward. But it is
still to be seen if
there are sixty votes to
win a partial-birth
abortion ban.
Candidate
Suzanne
Haik Terrell is 100%
pro-life and if she does
win in December, this
will make it a lot
easier to win votes on
social conservative
legislation in the
Senate. Terrell has been
endorsed by Government
Is Not God - PAC,
of which I am chairman.
(I met with Suzanne
Terrell Thursday night
and handed her a check
for $2,000 for her
campaign.) Senator Lott
has promised that he
will somehow force a
vote on partial-birth
abortion. We will have
to wait until at least
January to see how this
plays out.
THIS
WEEK IN THE HOUSE AND
SENATE
It
was a short week for the
Congress. Both the House
and Senate convened on
Tuesday, November 13th.
The House adjourned
three days later on
Friday and will not be
back until January. The
Senate may manage
to hang around town
until next week.
The
single major
accomplishment was the
passage of the Homeland
Security bill which had
been stalled in the
Senate by the Democratic
leadership for months.
Senator Daschle (D-SD),
who is still Majority
Leader, allowed the bill
to go forward simply
because it would have
passed in January when
Senator Trent Lott
(R-MS) becomes Majority
Leader.
(Please
note that the election
in Missouri was a
"special
election" to fill
out a four years of a
six year term. Had the
Democrat governor
certified the election
of the Republican victor
the Senate would have
immediately come under
the control of the
Republicans.)
Still,
an overwhelming number
of the spending bills
passed by the House were
not even voted on in the
Senate this year. The
government is
functioning on
"continuing
resolutions" rather
than on a budget. The
newest "continuing
resolutions" out of
the Senate authorize the
government to continue
to operate at the levels
of the last year's
Appropriations Bills.
Of
the thirteen
Appropriations Bills, a
total of eleven were
passed by the House
under the leadership of
Republicans Dick
Armey and Tom
DeLay. Just two of
those eleven
Appropriations Bills
sent to the Senate by
the House have been
voted on, thanks to the
Democrat Majority Leader
Tom Daschle.
HOUSES
OF WORSHIP POLITICAL
SPEECH PROTECTION ACT
I
received a wonderful
letter this week from Congressman
Walter Jones
(R-NC) thanking me for
helping to get HR 2357,
the Houses
of Worship Political
Speech Protection Act
onto the House floor for
a vote. We lost this
year but Jones promises
that he will not give up
and he will reintroduce
the bill in the next
session. He is
determined to restore
the freedom of speech in
the pulpits of America
that was stolen by an
act of Congress through
an amendment to an
authorization bill by
then Senator Lyndon
Johnson. Not too many
folks are aware of the
fact that before Lyndon
Johnson changed the law
for his own political
benefit, any preacher in
the country could, from
the pulpit, condemn any
politician without fear
of losing tax exemption.
HR
2357 is dead for the
year and my purpose in
mentioning it here is
not to rally support but
rather to give an
indication of the kind
of men I have the
opportunity to work with
in the halls of
Congress. At the bottom
of his letter to me he
wrote in his own hand,
"Victory in 2003!
The Peace of Christ be
with you."
Congressman Walter Jones
is one of Christ's true
believers in Congress
and I am honored to be
able to work with him.
William
J Murray, Chairman
Religious
Freedom Coalition
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