January 18, 2007
We did it!
In a major victory for freedom of speech and for good pro-family federal policies, the Senate tonight passed the Bennett Amendment to the lobby reform legislation, S. 1, by a vote of 55-43! (See how your senators voted below)
The Bennett amendment eliminated a very dangerous section of this bill, Section 220, which was a blatant attempt to stifle the grassroots involvement efforts of groups like UFI to keep you informed about important legislation and other developments affecting family policy.
This section would have imposed excessively burdensome, confusing and complicated registration and reporting requirements on grassroots organizations such as UFI. It would also have imposed huge penalties for making errors in complying with these requirements.
If Section 220 had become law, our ability to encourage you and others to get involved in these critical pro-family policy decisions and issues would have been virtually eliminated.
Thank you to the thousands of you who responded to our action alerts asking you to contact your senators and urge them to support the Bennett amendment!
United Families International and other groups made a major effort to encourage a strong grassroots response, and concerned Americans across the country flooded senate offices with calls, e-mails and faxes in support of the Bennett amendment.
You made the difference!
We must remember that there will still be many times in the future when you and other concerned citizens will want to contact your elected officials in support of the family and family values. But our victory tonight means that we can continue to inform you when you need to do that and suggest what you can do to help.
One of the things we suggest you to do is check the list below to see how your senators voted. If one or both voted for the Bennett amendment, we encourage you to call their Washington or state offices and thank them. You can get their contact information here.
Thanks again to all of you who made this victory possible!
Senate Vote on Bennett Amendment to S.1
A "yea" vote is a vote for the Bennett amendment.
| YEAs --- 55 | ||
| Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) |
Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) |
McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Roberts (R-KS) Salazar (D-CO) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) |
| NAYs --- 43 | ||
| Akaka (D-HI) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Clinton (D-NY) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) |
Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) |
Nelson (D-FL) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR) |
| Not Voting --- 2 | ||
| Brownback (R-KS) |
Johnson (D-SD) |
|