New Majority Whip Defends First Amendment

Newly chosen House Majority Whip Steve Scalise vehemently defends the First Amendment, despite Senate Democrat’s efforts to repeal a portion of the Bill of Rights. Before his promotion to Majority Whip, Scalise presented House Resolution 621 with co-sponsor Texas Congressman Ted Poe. The resolution is a direct response to the proposed Political Equality Amendment Senate Democrats are pushing which would remove political speech from First Amendment protection.

Scalise’s office released a new Youtube video this week to support HR 621. His video promises that, “Republicans will fight any attempts to weaken this constitutionally-guaranteed right to every American.”

The video also includes clips from the recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Political Equality Amendment. In his opening remarks, ranking Judiciary Committee Member Chuck Grassley said that, “free speech creates a marketplace of ideas, in which citizens can learn, debate, and persuade fellow citizens on the issues of the day. At its core, it enables a citizenry to be educated to cast votes to elect their leaders.

On the House floor in February, Scalise stated his appreciation for First Amendment guarantees saying, “That is what makes our country so great, that we can disagree. We can exercise those great rights that the Founding Fathers put in place and that was later established in the Bill of Rights, the first of those Bill of Rights being the First Amendment, encouraging free speech. It is what makes us strong as a Nation.”

As the new House Republican Leadership takes form, it is reassuring to know that leaders like Scalise are willing to stand up for time-tested First Amendment freedoms.