WASHINGTON — The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) condemned in the strongest possible terms the “For the People Act of 2021” (S. 2093) which failed in the Senate by a vote of 50 to 50.

No Republicans voted in favor of the bill and 60 votes were needed for it to advance.

 

“This legislation should be more appropriately named the ‘For the Politicians Act,’” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “This legislation has been carefully crafted to enable Democrats in power to run roughshod over the First Amendment protections that have been established to protect political speech.”

 

Falsely billed as a measure to curb corruption, enactment of S. 2093 would encourage, not discourage, corruption. S. 2093 is an abuse of the lawmaking power and would empower incumbent lawmakers to impose restrictions on private speech about the actions of the lawmakers themselves.

 

“This legislation would be like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” said Tobias. “This legislation would enable politically-motivated investigations of advocacy groups.”

 

The true purpose of S. 2093 is to discourage, as much as possible, disfavored groups (such as National Right to Life) from communicating about officeholders. If passed, the law would not only expose citizens who support such efforts to harassment and intimidation, it would smother organizations in layer on layer of record keeping and reporting requirements, all backed by the threat of civil and criminal sanctions.

 

“This bill would redefine and codify a vague and expansive definition of ‘the functional equivalent of express advocacy,’” said Jennifer Popik, J.D., legislative director for National Right to Life. “There is little that an organization could say about a politician’s votes or policy positions that would not fall within this expansive definition.”

 

S. 2093 contains additional provisions that would place an unacceptable burden on the exercise of First Amendment rights. S. 2093 would mandate such burdensome disclaimers on television, radio, and online advertisements that the key message would be buried and make some advertising, especially online, functionally impossible.

 

Tobias added, “This is pernicious, unprincipled, and constitutionally defective legislation and a blatant political attack on First Amendment rights. Pro-abortion Democrats should be ashamed of this unconstitutional attack on free speech.”