Family Values

Since I first ran for Congress, I have been committed to defending our traditional, conservative Alabama values in Washington. That means protecting families, respecting the sanctity of all life, and recognizing the role that religion has played throughout our nation's history.

I've found that many Members feel the same way. As a result, I've had the opportunity to join a number of family values related

caucuses, including the House Values Action Team, the Pro-Life Caucus, the Congressional Caucus on Fatherhood and the Congressional Coalition for Adoption. Through my membership in these groups I'm able to work with like-minded Members to push conservative, values driven legislation in Congress.

I continue to work towards passage of the Constitution Restoration Act which I first introduced in March 2005. This bill would help ensure that both state and local governments across the country are able to recognize God in the public arena, something that I believe was of utmost importance to our Founding Fathers.

I'm also an advocate for international human rights and religious freedom as a member of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Sudan Caucus.

Current Legislation (Updated September 24, 2007)

H.R. 2738, Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007: Introduced on June 15, 2007, this bill is a bipartisan effort to expand and improve family programming options for cable and satellite television consumers. As an original co-sponsor of this bill, I feel the Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007 offers a common sense solution to the problem of offensive, vulgar, violent and/or obscene programming that is currently forced on consumers by cable and satellite providers.

A parents job is to parent. Let me make it clear, this legislation isn’t a substitute for parental involvement but rather a tool for parents to better monitor and control what their children are watching on TV.

The Family and Consumer Choice Act would require any multi-channel video programming distributor (cable or satellite provider) to do one of the following: limit indecent programming during daylight hours as broadcast television now does, offer a family tier of programming, or offer an opt-out “a-la-carte” cable package to customers.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

H.R. 1592, Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007: This bill is intended to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes. It passed the House on May 3, 2007 by a vote of 237-180. The Senate has not yet taken any action on this bill.

I voted against this bill believing that it undermines the constitutional principle of equal justice under the law as well as freedom of speech. Equal justice under the law is one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Constitution, providing equality and justice for all Americans regardless of race, sex or status. According to the Constitution, justice should be blind to the personal traits of victims. Under this bill, justice is no longer equal, but turns on the race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other protected status of the victim.

No one should harbor hate or ill-will toward another person; I condemn that and I believe most feel the same way. However, the concern is that this bill creates a situation where a person is given privileged status and protection based on their race, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Hate crimes legislation, as represented by this bill, has already been used by left-leaning local governments to target expressions of traditional morality as “hate speech.” In New York for example, a pastor who had rented billboards and posted biblical quotations on sexual morality had them taken down by city officials who cited hate-crimes principles as justification.

Additionally, the bill creates a new federal “thought crime” that requires law enforcement officials to probe, infer and deduce if a crime occurred “because of” bias towards a protected group, with a new grants program that could accidentally lead to false accusations of motive. A criminal’s thoughts will be considered an element of the crime, which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt.