Pledge Protection Act – One Step Closer to a Reality

“In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pledge Protection Act, which shields the Pledge of Allegiance from rulings by federal courts declaring the Pledge unconstitutional because of the phrase “under God.” The amendment (H.R. 2389) was overwhelmingly passed.

…[Rep. Todd Akin, (R-Mo.)] said the House had acted to check the Judiciary from ignoring its “proper constitutional role.”

“For federal courts to suggest that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the words ‘under God’ and to therefore prohibit children from reciting it would be to turn the first amendment upon its head to use it as an instrument of censorship,” said Rep. Akin.

The bill was a reaction to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which declared the Pledge unconstitutional because it contains the words ‘under God’.”

That’s right – slowly but surely the Pledge Protection Act is making its way through the system. So what’s next in the process? The Senate. For the Pledge Protection Act to be passed,

“A bill cannot become a law of the land until it has been approved in identical form by both houses of Congress. Once the Senate amends and agrees to a bill that the House already has passed, the two houses may begin to resolve their legislative differences by way of a conference committee or through an exchange of amendments between the houses. If the Senate does not accept the House’s position, one of the chambers may propose creation of a conference committee to negotiate and resolve the matters in disagreement between the two chambers. Typically, the Senate gets to conference with the House by adopting this standard motion: "Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes thereon, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees.” This triple motion rolled into one–to insist (or disagree), request, and appoint–is commonly agreed to by unanimous consent. The presiding officer formally appoints the Senate’s conferees. (The Speaker names the House conferees.) Conferees are traditionally drawn from the committee of jurisdiction, but conferees representing other Senate interests may also be appointed. There are no formal rules that outline how conference meetings are to be organized. Routinely, the principals from each chamber or their respective staffs conduct pre-conference meetings so as to expedite the bargaining process when the conference formally convenes. Informal practice also determines who will be the overall conference chair (each chamber has its own leader in conference). Rotation of the chairmanship between the chambers is usually the practice when matched pairs of panels (the tax or appropriations panels, for example) convene in conference regularly. For standing committees that seldom meet in conference, the choice of who will chair the conference is generally resolved by the conference leaders from each chamber. The decision on when and where to meet and for how long are a few prerogatives of the chair, who consults on these matters with his or her counterpart from the other body. Once the two chambers go to conference, the respective House and Senate conferees bargain and negotiate to resolve the matters in bicameral disagreement. Resolution is embodied in a conference report, signed by a majority of Senate conferees and House conferees. The conference report must be agreed to by both chambers before it is cleared for presidential consideration. In the Senate, conference reports are usually brought up by unanimous consent at a time agreed to by the party leaders and floor managers. Because conference reports are privileged, if any Senator objects to the unanimous consent request, a nondebatable motion can be made to take up the conference report. Approval of the conference report itself is subject to extended debate, but conference reports are not open to amendment. Almost all of the most important measures are sent to conference, but these are only a minority of the bills that the two houses pass each year.”

Where does this leave us? Basically, first, we wait for the Senate to get to the amendment. After that, the Senators will vote on the issue. This can take awhile. The President of the Senate must also vote in favor of the bill or the Senators have to vote as a majority to overrule the President’s veto.

Don’t forget to let your state representatives and senators know how you feel on the subject - support the Pledge Protection Act.

DDL is a staff writer for Pushing Back the Frontiers of Ignorance.

Article source: “House Passes Pledge Protection Act”, The National Liberty Journal

Senate Legislative Process: www.senate.gov