Hensarling Bill, (H.R. 1606) fails to pass

Yesterday, the House failed to agree to suspend the rules and pass the bill (scroll down to page 4. The bill needed a 2/3 vote to pass under the suspension of the rules, but failed to get that total, although the bill did get 225 votes. The final vote total was 225-182. Roll Call vote No. 559 . No word on the fate of the bill for the future.

Reader Charles Isom, who is an aide to Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) sent along the comments Rep. Cannon made in support of the bill on the floor yesterday.

Rep. Chris Cannon Statement on HR 1606

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1606, legislation that will exempt blogs, e-mail and other online speech from campaign finance laws.

When Congress passed campaign finance reform in 2002, the legislation did not identify political speech over the Internet as a target of the new regulations. The proponents of the law argued its intent was to restrict money not speech. But in April a federal judge sided with campaign finance reform zealots and ruled the FEC cannot completely exempt online speech from the requirements of the Campaign Finance Reform law.

I'm not here to revisit arguments for or against campaign finance reform.

I'm here today to call for Congress to recognize the Internet as a safe harbor for political speech.

Everyday thousands of bloggers register displeasure or support with Congress, the Supreme Court, the President, even their local elected officials.

But now, we are on the cusp of a new FEC regulation that could stifle free expression.

Without Congressional action today, arbitrary restrictions would be imposed on blogs and other web content deterring participation from the very segment of our population that we want to encourage to be politically active.

Thomas Jefferson was right when he said: "The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right."

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will protect, in its infancy, what could be a powerful medium (or media) for the opinion of the people to be heard.

The way our nation communicates today is almost unrecognizable for those of us that were in Washington D.C. during the 1970s.

We have seen the innovation and democratization of the Internet in just the last decade. This legislation will promote democracy and shutter those who intend to manage through regulation this amazing engine of communication and knowledge.

The Internet, through such safe havens of individual expression and opinion like blogs, has put the power in the hands of the people, where it truly belongs, precisely where Thomas Jefferson wanted it.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) for introducing this important bill.

No new chest thumping from the campaign finance reform community, but I will update as they come available.