Special Report: Congressional Voting Records of the 103rd
Congress/1st Session

Legislative Newsletter of the American Civil Liberties
Union/Washington Office

Volume 16
December 1993

First Session, 103rd Congress Yields Mixed Record on Civil
Liberties

A new President and an unusually large and diverse freshman class
raised expectations for major advancements in civil rights and
civil liberties in 1993.  These expectations were much higher
than a largely nervous and uncertain Congress could fulfill. The
first session of the 103rd Congress saw significant progress in
expanding civil liberties in certain areas. while also
registering significant retreats from civil liberties principles
in others. The same Congress that reaffirmed the right of people
to exercise freely their religion voted to limit free speech and
political participation in two separate bills in the name of
"campaign finance reform."

Similarly, while there is some shift in the tone of the debate on
the perennial issue of crime, with the House breaking with its
past practice of passing unwieldy omnibus crime legislation, the
Senate passed its own mammoth crime bill that, among other
serious civil liberties concerns, calls for the death penalty for
more than 50 offenses. There remains a great risk that the House
will accept the troublesome Senate framework for addressing
crime. The following is a brief summary of some of the major
civil liberties issues raised in the first session of the 103rd
Congress.

Advances

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act:  The most significant
victory for civil liberties was the enactment of the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). RFRA effectively overturns a
Supreme Court decision that subjected religious practices to the
whim of state and local legislatures or regulatory bodies.  RFRA
reestablishes the principle that the government may only burden
religious practice by the least restrictive means available when
advancing a compelling state interest.  The Senate defeated an
amendment by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) that would have exempted
prisons from the protections of RFRA before it finally approved
the bill. The ACLU Washington Office played a key role in the
original effort to introduce the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act and in the leadership of the broad-based coalition that
worked tirelessly for its passage. The struggle for religious
liberty before the Congress is not over; still pending is the
Native American Religious Freedom Act.

The Family and Medical Leave Act: The signing of the Family and
Medical Leave Act by President Clinton was another landmark for
civil liberties. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides
for guaranteed job protection for up to 12 weeks per year for
childbirth, adoption or the serious illness of an employee or
immediate family member.  The ACLU was an early supporter of the
FMLA because the legislation provides for a gender neutral
approach to the problem of leave policies which fail to recognize
the competing demands of work and family. The FMLA is an
important step toward ensuring equal employment opportunity to
women and people with disabilities who are disproportionately
affected by inadequate and oftentimes discriminatory leave
policies.

The National Voter Registration Act: President Clinton also
signed the National Voter Registration Act ("Motor Voter") into
law. This legislation would allow voters to register to vote by
mail, when applying for a drivers license and at state and
federal agencies.  "Motor Voter" is a necessary step in the
continuing struggle to assure that the right to vote is a
practical reality for most Americans.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act: Both the House and
Senate passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act (FACE)
that prohibits the use of force, or threat of force or physical
obstruction with intent to injure. intimidate or interfere with
someone because that person is or has been obtaining or providing
abortion related services. The Act provides for criminal
penalties and a private civil cause of action. FACE provides
important protections to women and their physicians when they
seek to exercise the constitutional right to choose to terminate
a pregnancy. The House and Senate have yet to work out
differences between the two bills.  The ACLU was instrumental in
assuring that the legislation does not hinder constitutionally
protected First Amendment activities by anti-abortion protesters.
The ACLU has played and will continue to play a major role in
this effort to protect the right of women to exercise choice
while also protecting First Amendment rights.

Other victories in the arena of reproductive rights include the
restoration of the right of the District of Columbia to use its
own revenues to pay for medicaid abortions. In addition, efforts
to exclude abortions from the range of services covered under
health insurance plans for federal employees were defeated on
procedural grounds. Federal funding for abortion services for
women in the federal prison system was also restored.

While we celebrated these victories, however, the Congress moved
in other areas to cut back on civil liberties.

Setbacks

Campaign Finance Reform: High on the agenda of the Democratic
leadership in the House and Senate is legislation that is
designed to "reform" campaign financing.  While the ACLU is
sympathetic to concerns that have been raised about abuses in the
political process and supports the idea of public financing, we
oppose efforts by the government to suppress the speech of some
in order to enhance the voices of others. The ACLU opposed the
campaign finance reform proposals adopted by the House and Senate
because they unconstitutionally burden free speech and dampen
political participation, particularly from non-traditional and
less well- financed sources. The House and Senate are expected to
go to conference on their respective measures. The ACLU will
continue to raise its concerns, but we are not optimistic that we
will prevail.

Crime Legislation: Before adjourning in November, both the House
and Senate acted on crime legislation. The House passed a series
of measures including funding to increase the number of police,
drug treatment and alternatives to incarceration such as boot
camps. The Senate passed an omnibus bill which, in addition to
the measures adopted by the House, contained many provisions
which raise very serious civil liberties concerns.  The Senate
bill would extend the death penalty to more than 50 offenses;
require that certain 13-year-olds be tried as adults; increase
the number of mandatory minimum sentences and significantly
restrict the rights of non-citizens regardless of their legal
status in the United States. Despite some increase in funding for
preventive measures, the overall tilt and focus of the Senate
bill is on punishment at the expense of more proactive measures. 
One glimmer of hope in the crime debate has been the emerging
influence of the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses.
Concerns expressed by the members of those caucuses regarding the
House approach to omnibus crime legislation and the introduction
of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Reform Act (H.R.
3315) by Representative Craig Washington (D-TX) and others,
persuaded Judiciary Committee chairman Jack Brooks (D-TX) to take
a more measured and deliberate approach to crafting crime
legislation. H.R. 3315 has the potential to shift the debate on
crime from the politicized rhetoric of the past twelve years to a
more reasoned approach which will evaluate anti-crime proposals
on the basis of what works and what is fair rather than simply on
the basis of what appears to be "tough."

Civil Rights for Gays and Lesbians: Much like the crime issue,
the debate surrounding civil rights for gays and lesbians is
highly emotional and politically charged. In the context of
approving appropriations for the District of Columbia budget, the
House voted to prevent the District government from implementing
newly passed legislation which would allow unmarried couples,
including same-sex couples, to qualify for D.C. government
employees' health care benefits. While the national debate on
lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military produced
some new champions for nondiscrimination based on sexual
orientation, both the House and Senate finally voted to support
the ban. The ACLU played a major role in finding those new
champions and is continuing to work with them.

Unfinished Business

Despite our efforts to restore federal funding for abortions for
poor women, both the House and the Senate failed to lift that
ban, agreeing only that federal funds could be used to provide
abortions in the case of rape, incest or to save the life of the
woman.

In the national security arena, the Senate continued to vote its
belief that the United States should include the budget for
intelligence operations in the public budget. The House, however,
rejected an amendment that would have required public disclosure
of the intelligence budget. The Administration, meanwhile, is
drafting a new executive order on classification and is reviewing
security practices in the defense and intelligence committees.
Congress also passed a law requiring the Defense Department to
issue new regulations establishing due process procedures for DOD
civilian employees who lose their security clearances. A House
Foreign Affairs subcommittee accepted the Free Trade in Ideas
Act, which would protect the exchange of information and travel
to and from the United States. but agreed to withdraw it pending
a policy review by the State Department.  Congress has also begun
considering a number of immigration-related bills that would
restrict the granting of asylum as well as restricting the rights
of immigrants in this country. These bills are likely to receive
greater consideration in the second session as some members of
Congress try to make immigration an election-year issue.

In a category of its own was the vote on H.R. 51, the bill to
admit the District of Columbia as the 51st state in the Union.
Largely through the efforts of the ACLU and a committed
coalition of organizations including the National Rainbow
Coalition, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP
and the AFL-CIO, residents of the District of Columbia made
important progress in their quest for self-determination.
Although the measure failed on the House floor, the vote of 153
to 277 lays the groundwork for a concerted grassroots effort and
sets the stage for future action in the Senate.

Conclusion

On many of these issues the key elements missing have been bold
and clear leadership and the political will necessary to protect
civil liberties. One lesson in the first session of the
103rd Congress is that such leadership can and does change the
landscape of the debate -- even with issues as difficult and
politically charged as crime. While we are far from out
of the political woods in that debate, an important first step
has been taken. As is often the case, the leadership of one or
even a handful of members can shift the tone of the debate and
reap significant benefits for civil liberties. The job of the
ACLU is then to provide the information and legal analysis that
is needed to illuminate the civil liberties concerns, and to
provide the political advice and agitation to make change
possible.

Each of the votes listed in this issue of Civil Liberties Alert
is an important vote for or against civil liberties. We are
indebted to those members who have provided the leadership and
the votes which reflect ACLU positions on these key issues. We
are also indebted to those ACLU affiliates, members and activists
who take time to write letters and to make visits to members of
Congress. We will continue to challenge, to chide and to prod
members of Congress to place a greater emphasis on the civil
liberties concerns in the next session of Congress. It is our
hope that the scorecard for the second session of the 103rd
Congress will show a greater willingness to expand and protect
our rights. We can do that only with your continued support and
activism.

Published by the American Civil
Liberties Union, Washington Office
122 Maryland Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002

Laura Murphy Lee, Director
Diann Rust-Tierney, Chief Legislative Counsel/Associate Director
Susan Hansen, Publications Manager

National Headquarters:
132 West 43rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10036

Nadine Strossen, President
Kenneth B. Clark, Chair, National Advisory Council
Ira Glasser, Executive Director

Civil Liberties Alert is available in print on request to all who 
actively participate in legislative lobbying.

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