Jack joined with 104 other House Republicans today in calling on President Obama to end his support for the so-called “Freedom of Choice” Act which would overturn hundreds of state laws nationwide protecting the sanctity of unborn human life. To read a copy of the letter, click here.
It all started when some Air Force Academy cadet complained that the chaplain was closing prayers “in the name of Jesus.” You would think this could have been handled locally at the academy but not in today’s politically correct world. The censorship committee worked fast and turned this into a national Department of Defense priority.
This is nothing new. Apparently the name Jesus has been offending people for years. In Washington, prayers have been watered down so much they’re scarcely more than inspirational moments directed to some vaugue ’spiritual being’ generally considered good but not necessarily welcomed in polite company.
But the DOD went too far in the scramble to cleanse the prayers and gag the chaplain. They violated the Constitution which despite the challenges against it, has a little power in this town. The First Amendment says it’s against the law for the government to establish a religion or restrict the free exercise of religion. Respectively, these are referred to as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Restricting the method in which a chaplain can pray, violates this. A court decision “Katcoff v. Marsh” states that the DOD must provide a chaplain, but the chaplain serves as a representative of his denomination not as an agent of the government. Therefore he is entitled to pray in the manner of his denomination.
There is language in the House version of the Defense Authorization bill that would take us to the pre-Air Force incident language and return to a 200 year old history in which saying “Jesus” wasn’t a problem. Right now, the House and Senate are in conference on the defense bill and we will keep you updated on the latest as both sides work out a final report.
I also wanted to let you know that I was on FOX News yesterday discussing this topic. You can check out my appearance HERE.
Everyone in the House is waiting to hear that the President has used his first veto on H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, a bill which passed the House in May 2005 and passed the Senate last night.
Congressman Kingston weighed in on why he does not support using federal funds to destroy human embryos last night. Here’s what Jack thinks of the expected veto from the President:
From today’s Washington Times:
Still, some Republicans saw an upside to the confrontation.
By actually using his veto, Mr. Bush is making sure he remains relevant in the legislative process, actually making it easier to veto bills in the future, said Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, who supports Mr. Bush’s position.
“If he doesn’t veto this, he’ll never be able to veto anything, and he’ll lose all of his bargaining chips and firepower at the bargaining table,” said Mr. Kingston said.
UPDATE (2:25 PM): The President has just announced his veto. The ball is in the House’s court. Any Member of the House can now motion to take up the veto, at which point we expect one hour of debate distributed between the majority and the minority. Then the House will vote. A “Yes” vote would be to overturn the President’s veto. FYI - the veto is expected to be sustained in the House and may not get the 2/3 vote necessary to overturn the veto.
UPDATE (2:30 PM): You can watch the President’s speech announcing the veto here.
UPDATE (2:40 PM): The House just received a “Message from the President of the United States in writing.” This debate should start soon. And here it is.
UPDATE (4:06 PM): The White House just sent around this talking points document.
UPDATE (4:16 PM): Just received this note from the Whip’s Office:
Following these votes, we expect to receive a veto message from the President and shortly thereafter begin up to one hour of debate on the question of Overriding the Veto on H.R. 810 - Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.
UPDATE (5:02 PM): The Clerk just read the President’s veto. Majority Leader Boehner will control the debate. He has yielded the Democrats 30 minutes. Here we go…
UPDATE (5:09 PM): A big hat-tip to a certain Congressional staffer to pointing us to Tony Snow’s press briefing earlier today where he discusses the President’s reason for vetoing this legislation.
UPDATE (5:12 PM): Democrat Rep. Dianna DeGette of Colorado just said that she thinks that the President is confused about his role as President. Anyone agree with that?
UPDATE (6:34 PM): The House is now voting on the Veto Override of H.R. 810. The vote to Override the President’s Veto failed 235-193.
Please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. If you don’t have a flag near, you can stand and face the flag above this post with your right-hand over your heart.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Unfortunately, activist Judges have been trying to take the Pledge out of the classroom for years because of the words, “Under God.”
Continuing on our American Values Agenda, today the House will vote and likely pass H.R.2389, the Pledge Protection Act, which would establish that no court, including the Supreme Court, would have jurisdiction to hear questions about the Pledge of Allegiance.
What do you think? Should Congress help protect the Pledge of Allegiance?
UPDATE (4:51 PM): The bill passed 260-167. It now heads to the Senate for its consideration. (And you know how quickly the Senate can move on legislation.)
Tonight the House dealt with three different stem cell bills so I wanted to help clarify what exactly just happened.
Today, Kathryn Lopez points us to a “uniting-not-dividing” press release issued by Mike Pence regarding the debate over H.R. 810:
“You see, I believe that life beings at conception and that a human embryo is human life. I believe it is morally wrong to creat human life to destroy it for research. And I believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans, who believe that human life is sacred, and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research.
“This debate, then, is not really about what an embryo is. This debate is about who we are as a nation. Not, will we respect the sanctity of human life but will we respect the deeply held moral beliefs of nearly half of the people of this nation who find the destruction of human embryos for scientific research to be morally wrong?”
I agree. This debate is about FEDERAL FUNDING for embryonic research.
After all, there is no ban on this research–the question is on which type of research we focus our limited federal research dollars on.
The government should NOT be in the business of destroying embryos for lab experiments. Especially when we know that adult stem cell research works.
Of the two types of stem cell research - adult and embryonic - only one (adult) has yielded results and continues to do so. Adult stem cell research has found 72 successful treatments for diseases while embryonic stem cell research has found ZERO.
There is an ALTERNATIVE. We should continue research on adult stem cells, Umbilical Cord Blood Cells, and the embryonic cell already approved by President Bush.
Two bills are now heading to the President for his signature. I do not think we’ll see both become law.
-Jack