NRLC and Others Fight McCain-Feingold Restrictions on Free Speech About Politicians.(National Right to Life Committee)(Brief Article)

WASHINGTON (March 8)--The U.S. Senate will spend the second half of March in a wide-open debate on the McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" bill, which is strongly opposed by NRLC and many other citizen groups.

Debate on the measure (S. 27) is expected to begin March 19 and to consume two weeks. The leading opponent of the bill, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), says that he expects the Senate to vote on numerous amendments to the 38-page bill.

As introduced, the McCain-Feingold bill contains multiple restrictions on the rights of groups such as NRLC to communicate with members of Congress and to communicate with the public regarding what federal politicians are doing.

"These restrictions, if enacted, would further enhance the power of the institutional news/entertainment media to control what citizens are told about right-to-life issues and about the actions of federal politicians on those issues," explained NRLC Executive Director David N. O'Steen, Ph.D., "It is not surprising, then, that this legislative is being driven forward mainly by the news media, in advocacy coverage that most often fails to explain how the bill would stifle the voices of organizations that represent millions of ordinary citizens."

At a March 1 press conference on Capitol Hill, NRLC joined numerous other groups in opposition to the bill. Among the provisions of the bill that drew the strongest objections were:

* provisions to make it illegal for a group to discuss with an elected representative his "message" - - for example, how to best promote a pro-life bill - - and then discuss the same subject in communications to the public within his state or district (by defining such communications as illegal campaign "contributions");

* language to ban many types of groups from sponsoring TV or radio ads for one month before a primary and two months before a general election, if the ads even mention the name of a member of Congress (for example, an ad that says, "Please call Senator Jones and urge him to vote for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act"), and to allow certain other groups to purchase such ads only under an ...