Thank you Ted Cruz for your unrelenting attention to the evil plots of the Democrats to silence the people of the United States. Democrats see the writing on the wall and know the American people are pig sick of their freedom stomping ploys. In desperation, they are trying to seize the opportunity to rid the populous of their God given powers and make them subservient to the Government. Senator Ted Cruz, again leads the fight against this tyrannical overreach and keeps the citizens informed of the schemes to chip away at our Constitutional Rights.
By Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times
Senate Democrats on Wednesday backtracked from a wide-ranging proposal to repeal part of the First Amendment, instead passing a slimmer constitutional amendment that singles out corporations for special restrictions and leaves to judges’ future rulings the toughest decisions about how far Congress could go in silencing electioneering.
The proposal cleared the Judiciary Committee’s Constitution subcommittee on a 5-4 party-line vote after a heated meeting that saw Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, repeatedly cut off Republican senators who accused Democrats of trying to fiddle with the founders’ vision for political gain.
“If there’s no chance of this happening, why are we engaged in this debate? The answer isn’t complicated,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican. “There has been a political determination by Democrats in the Senate that it benefits them to vilify the Koch brothers.”
Democrats said they took offense at Mr. Cruz questioning their motives. They said they weren’t compelled by the 2014 congressional elections, but rather by several Supreme Court decisions that have overturned some of Congress’s previous campaign finance restrictions and allowed interest groups to spend more freely on ads, get-out-the-vote drives and other activities surrounding elections.
Originally, the Democrats’ amendment would have granted the government broad powers to limit or ban political spending by candidates, voters or interest groups. But after an outcry from civil liberties advocates, Mr. Durbin tweaked the proposal.
The new version requires that the government restrictions be “reasonable” — though it gives Congress free rein to halt political spending by corporations.
That almost certainly would mean the Koch brothers, David and Charles, who are generous contributors to a network of libertarian-leaning conservative groups.
The amendment would overturn a 2010 Supreme Court case, the Citizens United decision, which opened the door to corporations, labor unions and interest groups being able to spend their money on political advertising. The justices ruled that political spending was free speech and thus protected by the First Amendment.
Democrats’ new amendment would specifically protect freedom of the press, leaving media organizations free to continue to print or broadcast stories and editorials.
But who would qualify as part of the press would likely become a heated issue.
During Wednesday’s debate Mr. Cruz said if the amendment passed, Congress would have the power to ban books, stop movies from being run or even prevent someone from posting a yard sign.
