In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. DeMint explains why he won't be voting to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court:
Sen. DeMint spoke in opposition to the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S.909) on the Senate floor today. The bill was introduced to the National Defense Authorization bill as an amendment by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Also cosponsored by Sen Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), S.909 would broaden federal hate crimes law to include crimes influenced by the gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim.
Saying the measure would criminalize our thoughts and beliefs, DeMint referenced the portion of the bill that states "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual's expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs." DeMint said the use of the word "solely" makes it clear that the intent of the legislation is to enable the prosecution of speech if it is part of the broader prosecution of an action that could be perceived as a hate crime.
Yesterday the Senate voted to accept Sen. DeMint's amendment to the Legislative Appropriations bill that requires that the Pledge of Allegiance and the national motto, "In God We Trust" be displayed in the Capitol Visitors Center. After several months of fighting for the changes to be made, DeMint was able to convince his fellow senators to move ahead and insist the Architect of the Capitol to make the changes. Originally, a display in the CVC incorrectly stated that "E Pluribus Unum" was the national motto and the Pledge of Allegiance was nowhere to be seen.
"The Capitol Visitor Center is designed to tell the history and purpose of our nation's Capitol, but it fails to appropriately honor our religious heritage that has been critical to America’s success,” said Senator DeMint several months ago when he first drafted his amendment. “While the Architect of the Capitol has pledged to include some references to faith, more needs to be done. You cannot accurately tell the history of America or its Capitol by ignoring the religious heritage of our Founders and the generations since who relied on their faith for strength and guidance. The millions of visitors that will visit the CVC each year should get a true portrayal of the motivations and inspirations of those who have served in Congress since its establishment.
“The current CVC displays are left-leaning and in some cases distort our true history. Exhibits portray the federal government as the fulfillment of human ambition and the answer to all of society’s problems. This is a clear departure from acknowledging that Americans’ rights ‘are endowed by their Creator' and stem from ‘a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.’ Instead, the CVC’s most prominent display proclaims faith not in God, but in government."
Senator DeMint will offer an amendment to the budget resolution to put Congress on record about protecting small and home businesses from the burdensome and impractical requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008.
The CPSIA has threatened thousands of jobs and caused many small and home businesses to unnecessarily increase the costs of their products without providing substantial improvement in product safety. The legislation was drafted so broadly that it swept up small and family businesses that were never part of the problem. The law imposes burdensome testing requirements when more common-sense approaches could guarantee the same level of safety. Senator DeMint's amendment would take the first steps necessary to repair the damage inflicted by the CPSIA's unintended consequences in the following ways:
Delay the lead limits 6 months so that the CPSC and the public can address confusion surrounding the implementation
Exempt thrift stores and other second hand sellers: The Goodwill and the Salvation Army have never been a safety problem and in these hard economic times people need access to affordable goods now more than ever.
Exempt the sale of books and children’s motorcycles from the CPSIA. Books and bikes have never been a product safety concern.
Allow manufacturers to show that their products are within the lead limits by showing that all the components of their products are within the lead limit. If lead is not in the component it won’t be in the product. This is a common-sense approach that will save businesses thousands of dollars without compromising the safety of the product.
Prevents retroactive enforcement that would require otherwise safe products from having to be destroyed. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of safe products on the shelves and in warehouses today that should be sold. It just doesn't make sense to force businesses to destroy perfectly good products.
Most importantly, Senator DeMint's amendment protects the health and well-being of our children, by maintaining the lead limits currently in place and requiring that the overwhelming majority of all children’s products sold in the U.S., except the few exempted above, meet the new standards in the CPSIA.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) discusses the many flaws of the National Service Act being considered on the Senate floor, calling it "a well-intentioned mistake." The National Service Act would significantly expand AmeriCorps programs and boost their funding to $5.7 billion over the next five years at a time when our nation faces serious economic turmoil. Civil society is the only institution in America that still works because it is free from government interference. This bill distorts the motivation for vounteerism and will inevitably corrupt private charity.
The Heritage Foundation points out that this legislation is built on the failed efforts of Herbert Hoover and actually goes further: "As troublesome as such a 'stimulus' today might be to proponents of limited government, Serve America goes further. It uses Hoover's ideas minus the self-restraint, expanding Washington's involvement as a bureaucracy, making participating states and organizations permanently dependent on the government for their service activities. Even Hoover recognized that such a move would signal a belief in the death of real voluntary public service. He consequently called his bill what it really was: a government jobs program."
Today, the Obama Administration officially began the process of rescinding the Bush Administration’s regulation protecting the conscience rights of doctors to not perform abortions. President Obama’s decision to overturn this important regulation is yet another attack on America’s culture of life.
In the past three decades, Congress has set forth several statutes protecting provider conscience rights, most recently the Hyde-Weldon law passed in 2004, which I supported. Under this law, no federal, state, or local government agency or program receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services may discriminate against a health care provider because the provider refuses to perform, pay for, provide coverage of, or make referrals for abortions. This protection covers health care professionals, hospitals, HMOs, health insurance plans, and “any other kind of health care facility, organization, or plan.”
Abortion advocates argue that if doctors and other health care professionals are not forced to support or perform abortions, access to health care services for women will be restricted. In reality, many health care providers will leave the industry all together if forced to violate their moral convictions, thereby reducing access to health care services across the board. In addition, without the conscience protection regulation, providers opposed to participating in abortion remain susceptible to intolerance and coercion from employers with conflicting beliefs and possible lawsuits from outside organizations.
Last week, the Office of Management and Budget announced they were reviewing a proposal to repeal the rule, and starting today, March 10, the American people have 30 days to voice their opinions on the matter...
Republican Senator Proposes Amendment to Overturn Ban on Cash for Schools Hosting Faith Forums Republican Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment Thursday to overturn a provision in the stimulus bill that prohibits renovation funding for schools that allow religious worship in their facilities.
By Cristina Corbin
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment Thursday to kill a provision in the Senate stimulus bill that prohibits renovation money for schools that allow religious groups to meet on campus.
DeMint proposed the amendment after the provision was passed in the Democratic-controlled House despite unanimous Republican opposition. The amendment is expected to be voted on Thursday, an aide to the senator told FOXNews.com...
As you may be aware, beginning next month many of America’s small and home businesses will be forced to radically alter their practices and products as prescribed by the burdensome Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). This bill mandates stringent and overreaching federal standards, under the guise of safety requirements that will unfortunately threaten the well-being and further livelihood of thousands of America’s workers and their families. It was my position when the bill was being debated on the Senate floor, as it remains today, that this bill could have -- and should have -- better balanced the need for safety with a common-sense business approach.
In an effort to keep the doors of these small businesses open, and protect the livelihood of many families, I will be introducing legislation early next week that will present much needed reform to the CPSIA. This legislation will:
Delay the regulations six months. There is massive confusion and uncertainty in the small and home business community. The regulations are unclear and compliance will be practically impossible for many manufacturers. Further the comment period on many of the implementing regulations will extend beyond the February 10 deadline. When a clear path of compliance is not available, it is patently unfair to expect industry to be able to meet those compliance requirements. My bill will delay the implementation six months so that all parties can work together to address the needs of our small businesses and the needs of product safety.
Allow small manufacturers to use the testing and certification that their component suppliers have done to certify that the components do not contain an impermissible amount of lead. Lead isn’t going to come out of thin air. If the lead’s not in the components, it won’t be in the product. This will save small manufacturers from having to subject their products -- many of which are made in small runs -- to duplicative and expensive multi-thousand dollar tests.
James B. Steinberg, President Obama's nominee to be the next Deputy Secretary of State, claimed in written testimony to the Foreign Relations Committee that Congress cannot constitutionally restrict taxpayer funding to perform or promote abortions. Mr. Steinberg stated that the Mexico City policy, which bars taxpayer funding of abortions overseas, “is an unnecessary restriction that, if applied to organizations based in this country, would be an unconstitutional limitation on free speech.”
Steinberg’s opinion is in direct contradiction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already definitively decided the matter in Rust v. Sullivan in 1991. The court’s majority opinion concluded: “The Government has no constitutional duty to subsidize an activity merely because it is constitutionally protected, and may validly choose to allocate public funds for medical services relating to childbirth but not to abortion.”
Steinberg’s statement was made in response to a question about President Obama's efforts to repeal the "Mexico City policy," which bars organizations that receive funding from the State Department to agree to "neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations." Here is the question and answer...
