4 Nov 1995 Legislative Alert
Date sent: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:11:04 -0800
From: Mark Smith
To: loyde@mailhost.ed.pdx.edu
Subject: Legislative Alert - On Every Front
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
Date: November 3, 1995
To: AAUP Government Relations Network
From: Marsha Nye Adler, Director of Government Relations
The next few weeks promise to be among the most critical of the
year as several issues are breaking at the same time.
Budget Reconciliation
House and Senate leadership have reportedly reached agreement on
the student loan provisions of the budget reconciliation bill.
The tentative agreement has adopted the Senate number on $5
billion in cuts and a cap of 10% of volume for the Direct Lending
program. Currently the Direct Lending program accounts for close
to 40% of volume. Therefore this agreement will force almost
three quarters of the schools now participating in direct lending
to drop the program which will have devastating effects on the
affordability of student loans.
While the President is continuing to insist he will veto this
reconciliation bill, the pressure to sign a budget-cutting bill
is increasing. It is more important than ever for AAUP members
to contact the President and urge him to veto the budget
reconciliation, and any other bills, that restrict student loans
and cut the direct loan program.
President William J. Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2883
president@whitehouse.gov
Flag Desecration Amendment
The Senate is expected to bring up Senate Joint Resolution 31
next week to coincide with Veterans' Day celebrations. S.J.Res
31 proposes a constitutional amendment that declares that "the
Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the physical
desecration of the flag of the United States." AAUP opposed the
amendment when the House passed it this past summer. The vote in
the Senate is expected to be extremely close.
ACTION NEEDED
CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW AND URGE THEM TO
OPPOSE THIS AMENDMENT TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS
The American Association of University Professors opposes this
amendment. It would, for the first time, allow Congress and the
States to limit the free speech protections of the First
Amendment to the Constitution. The AAUP believes that any
incursion on the freedom of speech threatens the most basic
tenets of American democracy.
The First Amendment protections of speech and expression
encompass academic freedom, and are essential to the higher
education community. The AAUP's 1915 Declaration of Principles,
crafted at the founding of the organization, contends that the
repression of politically or socially unacceptable opinions
jeopardizes academic freedom. The declaration argues that such
repression violates open debate on competing opinions and,
further, impedes the individual's right to explore and express
his or her ideas.
The following Senators have not indicated their final decision
and are especially crucial to contact. I have included their
Washington office phone numbers and the e-mail addresses of those
who publicize them.
Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE) senator@biden.senate.gov 202-224-5042
Bill Bradley (D-NJ) senator@bradley.senate.gov 202-224-3224
Kent Conrad (D-ND) 202-224-2043
Byron Dorgan (D-ND) 202-224-2551
Slade Gorton (R-WA) senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov 202-224-3441
Bob Graham bob_graham@graham.senate.gov 202-224-3041
Carl Levin senator@levin.senate.gov 202-224-6221
Mitch McConnell senator@mcconnell.senate.gov 202-224-2541
Patty Murray senator_murray@murray.senate.gov 202-224-2621
Arlen Spector 202-224-4254
[or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121]
Silence America Amendment
Efforts are continuing to enact the Istook-McIntosh-Ehrlich
sponsored Silence America Amendment. This proposal would deny
federal funding to any non-profits, including charities, engaging
in advocacy if more that 5 percent of their private funds were
used for that advocacy. The amendment has been attached to the
Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and is one of the reasons
that bill is stalled in the Senate. Efforts to attach the
amendment to the Treasury- Postal Service appropriations bill in
conference resulted in that conference committee reporting back
in disagreement to the two houses. Now we are hearing that House
freshmen are demanding to attach the amendment to the anticipated
continuing resolution that must be passed to ensure the
government to keep functioning past November 13. Congress passed
an earlier continuing resolution to allow the government to
operate between the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1 and
November 13. However, little progress has been made in the
appropriations process. Only 2 of the 13 appropriations bill
have been passed.
AAUP's primary concerns center on freedom of expression issues in
the legislation. The amendment's definition of "advocacy" goes
far beyond existing definitions of lobbying to include "any
effort that may influence any public policy at any level of
government--federal, state and local." This legislation directly
assaults the constitutionally protected freedom of speech rights
of individuals working with organizations receiving federal
grants. In particular, the individual's rights to exercise
redress of grievances--for example, to comment on federal
regulations, advise state or federal officials on matters of
policy, contacting members of the legislature on funding issues,
testifying on policy issues--will be taken away.
Action Needed: Call your Representative and Senators today to
oppose this unwarranted restriction of our First Amendment
rights. Please call today and register your opposition to the
"Silence America Amendment" no matter what avenue its proponents
attempt to take. We will keep you informed about its status.
Let the Government Relations Office know the outcome of your call.
Contact us at 1-800-424-2973, extension 3027, by fax at 1-202-737-5
526
or by e-mail at marksmith@igc.apc.org