[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT

  (Mr. DOOLITTLE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, the First Amendment to the Constitution 
reads, ``Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.''
  The First Amendment is America's most important political reform. As 
Americans, it is our most precious and sacred guarantee. That is why 
the founders put it at the very top of the list.
  Mr. Speaker, it was political speech that the founders deemed most 
vital. Why? Because it was political speech that the British government 
tried to stifle when it was in power.
  The Founding Fathers tried to prevent government suppression of 
political speech from ever happening again, by adopting the First 
Amendment to the United States Constitution. The framers of the 
Constitution did not explicitly or implicitly create a campaign speech 
exception to the First Amendment, as some Members of Congress now wish 
to do.
  Mr. Speaker, under the First Amendment, Congress does not have the 
authority to regulate political speech. As long as we have any shred of 
a Constitution left, we are going to have the ability to act as 
individuals or as groups to engage in political expression, free of 
government intrusion.

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