By Pat Trueman, AFA Director of Governmental Affairs

January 1999 – The pro-family movement, which saw too few victories in the 105th Congress, may see fewer in the 106th. This will be due to a combination of pusillanimous Republican leadership and a rejuvenated President Bill Clinton. If Republicans are too timid to impeach Clinton, which as of this writing appears to be the case, he will be in a very strong legislative position for his final two years. He will push a liberal, if not radical agenda and he will be equally liberal with his veto pen assuring that few if any pro-family bills become laws. Here are some issues to watch this year and next:

Partial-Birth Abortion
Passage of a bill banning partial-birth abortion, a procedure that is hardly distinguishable from infanticide, will top the pro-family agenda. President Clinton has vetoed this bill in the past and will do so again. His veto was overridden in the U.S. House but the effort fell short in the Senate. The number of senators opposing the procedure has increased by one as a result of the last election – still a vote shy of a veto override, however.

Child Custody Protection Act
The bill would prohibit anyone other than a parent from taking a child out of the child’s state of residence to have an abortion if that state requires parental consent prior to abortion. In the last Congress, the House passed this bill but the Senate failed to vote on it.

Elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts
This is a perennial issue for the pro-family movement and things have gotten worse not better in the effort to eliminate it. For four years Speaker Newt Gingrich and House leaders promised an all-out effort to kill the agency. At the end of the last legislative session they counted it a victory that funding for the NEA was not increased. Some victory! The pro-family movement is not giving up and has received a promise from Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the Republican Whip, that a top-notch staff person would be hired to work on the effort to eliminate the NEA.

Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act
This bill would clarify that physician-assisted suicide is prohibited under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The Clinton Administration has prohibited the Drug Enforcement Administration from enforcing that act in Oregon where state law allows physicians to kill patients on request. The U.S. Constitution indicates that federal law trumps state law when there is a conflict as there is in Oregon, but the Clinton Administration has disregarded the Constitution on this matter.

Parental Rights
The Istook Amendment, which would require parental notification before minors receive contraceptive or abortifacient drugs and devices from federally funded family planning clinics, will be reintroduced. Currently, those clinics treat children like adults and give them what they want with no parental involvement.

Library Internet Pornography
The pro-pornography American Library Association and the ACLU have teamed up to force all public libraries to have unrestricted Internet access. Parents are complaining to Congress. Bills will be introduced to require blocking software on library computers to restrict at least child pornography and obscenity (hard-core pornography).

Missile Defense System
The United States has no defense against a nuclear missile launched against us. That fact alludes most Americans. Full funding for a system to protect us is expected to be a major pro-family initiative in the 106th Congress.

Elimination of the Marriage Tax Penalty
Many married couples pay more in taxes than if they live together without the benefit of marriage. Twenty-one million married couples, for example, pay an average of $1,400 more per year than they would pay if single. That’s 42% of all married couples. The pro-family movement will again push to eliminate the marriage penalty.

Ten Commandments Defense Act
Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama introduced this bill in the last Congress. It will protect the authority of states to display the Ten Commandments in public places. The bill also reemphasizes the Constitutional freedom of religious expression under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The bill was not voted on in either house. It will receive full support from the pro-family movement in the 106th Congress and, if the bill comes to a vote, it would be hard to oppose.

Dollars to the Classroom Act
This bill would redirect federal education dollars directly to classrooms. Under the Act, federal funding for 31 federal programs would be sent to states rather than to Washington bureaucrats, resulting in $800 million more going to classrooms of America’s children.

A-Plus  Education Savings Accounts
Congress passed this bill, which would allow parents to establish savings accounts that would grow tax-free. Proceeds could be used for nearly all education expenses, even those of homeschoolers such as a home computer. Congress passed this bill in the last session but the President vetoed it.

Elimination of Tax-funded Population Control Programs
U.S. taxpayers shell out more than $500 million annually to control the populations of developing countries. Often drugs and devices dumped on these countries have been experimental, causing countless medical problems. Recipients are frequently coerced or not properly informed. We want to appear charitable but instead seem imperialistic because of our failure to respect the cultural, moral and religious views of the targets of our heavy-handed “charity.” Rep. Ron Paul of Texas introduced a bill in the last Congress to halt funding for these programs. His bill, which received surprisingly strong support in the U.S. House, will be reintroduced.