Discharge Petition on Free Speech Curbs Stalls 16 Signatures Short of Majority

Discharge Petition on Free Speech Curbs Stalls 16 Signatures Short of Majority

By NRLC Federal Legislative Office

WASHINGTON (June 9) It now appears that supporters of the Shays-Meehan "campaign reform" bill (HR 417) may fail in their campaign to force the House of Representatives to vote on the bill this summer.

The Shays-Meehan bill is strongly opposed by NRLC because it would severely restrict the right of NRLC, NRLC affiliates, and other pro-life groups to communicate effectively with the public about the positions and actions of federal lawmakers, including upcoming votes in Congress.

The bill is also opposed by many other issue-oriented organizations, including the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Concerned Women for America.

In May, pro-life House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Il.) refused demands to schedule the bill for an immediate vote. Instead, he said that he would allow the bill to come up in mid-September.

Supporters of the bill proclaimed that such a long delay would doom the bill in the Senate. In an attempt to force a quick vote, they filed a "discharge petition." Under House rules, if a majority of House members sign this petition, the bill would be brought to the floor without approval from any committee or from the House Republican leadership, under rules that would severely restrict time for debate and consideration of amendments.

House members have been under pressure from special-interest groups such as Common Cause to sign the discharge petition. The editorial boards of many newspapers have also joined the lobbying campaign. For example, on June 1, USA Today ran an editorial promoting the discharge petition that included the names and phone numbers of all House members who supported the Shays-Meehan bill in 1998 but who had not signed the petition.

The May 11 edition of NRL News (page 7-8) contained a listing of the 192 House members who had signed the petition as of that date. At that time, all of the signers were members of the House Democratic Caucus.

Since then, an additional 10 House members have signed the petition, including six Republicans who objected to Speaker Hastert's decision to delay consideration until September. The 10 new signers are Michael Castle (R-De.), Michael Forbes (R-NY), Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Nancy Johnson (R-Ct.), Matthew Martinez (D-Ca.), Constance Morella (R-Md.), Owen Pickett (D-Va.), Christopher Shays (R-Ct.), and Bennie Thompson (D-Ms.). Of these, Forbes and Holden are pro-life.

The current total of 202 signers is only 16 signatures short of the 218 required to discharge the bill. Still, it appears that the petition drive is stalled, since the petition has received no new signers for two weeks.

House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt (Mo.), who has tried hard to get all 212 members of the House Democratic Caucus to sign the petition, has failed to persuade 16 of his Democratic colleagues. Of those 16 Democrats, most have generally pro-life voting records, and some of these have made it clear that they take seriously the objections of NRLC and other pro-life groups.

The 16 non-signing Democrats (as of June 8) are Reps. Earl Hilliard (Al.), Peter Visclosky (In.), Ken Lucas (Ky.), Richard Neal (Mass.), Joseph Moakley (Mass.), James Barcia (Mi.), Jim Oberstar (Mn.), Collin Peterson (Mn.), Gene Taylor (Ms.), James Traficant (Ohio), John Murtha (Pa.), Ralph Hall (Tx.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Alan Mollohan (WV), Nick Rahall (WV), and David Obey (Wi.).

In August 1998, the House passed the Shays-Meehan bill 252-179. In the Senate, however, pro-life Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) led successful filibusters that have blocked attempts by Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) to pass such legislation in 1996, 1997, and 1998. (See the 1997-98 NRLC congressional scorecard for information on how individual members of Congress voted on the Shays-Meehan and McCain-Feingold bills during 1998.)

Resources

A February 24 letter from NRLC to House members, summarizing NRLC's objections to the Shays-Meehan bill (HR 417), was reproduced in the March 15 edition of NRL News, pages 22-23.

NRLC has prepared a detailed critique of HR 417 titled "An Analysis of the Speech-Restriction Provisions of the Shays-Meehan Bill." This analysis is available from the NRLC Federal Legislative Office, 419 Seventh Street, Northwest, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004. It is also available at the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org/Federal/ Free_Speech/Shaysbig.htm.

The NRLC website also contains a great deal of additional documentation on the ways in which restrictions on free speech about political figures would hurt the pro-life cause.