THE SENATE

As of Wednesday, January 15th, every committee in the Senate was still run by Democrat chairmen. Senator Lieberman still held the gravel as chairman of the Committee on Government Affairs and Senator Inhofe still had not taken over from Senator Jeffords at the Environment and Public Works Committee. Was there a Democrat coup in the Senate? Sort of. The Senate Democrats were refusing to vote on an "organization plan" under the new Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Despite losing the election in November the Democrats are demanding that they receive equal committee funding to the Republicans. This was despite the fact that the tradition has always been for the winning party to have 2/3 of committee funding.

On Wednesday evening an agreement was finally reached by Majority Leader Frist and chief Democrat obstructionist, Senator Tom Daschle. Under the plan the Democrats will receive 40% of the funding and office space instead of the traditional 33%. Also, two important committees will be evenly split rather than having a Republican majority. The committees in question are Intelligence and Ethics. The committees will have Republican chairmen.

Senator Frist is in a hurry to move forward with the conservative agenda, including a partial-birth abortion ban and I believe this is why he made the deal. It was far better than allowing the Senate to be shut down by the Democrats while they insisted on having 49% of committee funds. Although some social conservative groups were at first skeptical of Frist on abortion, his statements on NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, January 12th brought him cheers from pro-lifers and the anger of the Hillary Clinton crowd. Below is his answer to a question on abortion by Tim Russert:

MR. RUSSERT: Abortion—what will happen with abortion in this session?
SEN. FRIST: Well, I don’t know exactly what will happen. We are just beginning sort of all the planning in terms of what particular bills. I think things like partial-birth abortion—and I can tell you as a physician who has been in the operating room for thousands of days and hundreds of thousands of hours, the whole concept of partial-birth abortion offends the sensibilities of me as a physician. It’s a rogue procedure. It’s not in the medical textbooks. Something like that where we’ve got not consensus but broad, broad support among the American people, I can see that coming very, very quickly.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq. Are we on the cusp of war? ...

Please note that as soon as Frist came out strongly against abortion Russert changed the subject.

THE HOUSE

Not much going on here either. Social conservative groups, including representatives of the Religious Freedom Coalition, were to meet with congressional leaders on Thursday, January 15th. Late on Wednesday we were notified that the House was adjourning early this week.

THE WHITE HOUSE

The horror of legal abortion began in the United States on January 23, 1973. Since then, more than 42,000,000 Americans have died at the hands of abortion doctors. Under President Ronald Reagan the public funding of abortions was stopped, and this saved many lives. However, Bill Clinton overturned much of what Reagan had done. President Bush has done much to undo the damage done to the pro-life movement during the Clinton Administration. For the second year in a row President George W. Bush has issued a proclamation declaring the anniversary of the Row V. Wade case "National Sanctity of Human Life Day."

In his proclamation President Bush cites his signing of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as an important contribution to efforts to care for human life. Prior to the passage of the law, if a child was born alive during an abortion procedure he was placed aside in a steel pan and allowed to die. In one infamous case it took many hours for the child to die. To see the full text of the proclamation click here.

MEANWHILE: All six Democrat candidates for president have agreed to appear at a pro-abortion event on the anniversary of Roe V. Wade put on by NARAL (the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League). They include Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO), Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT), Rev. Al Sharpton and professed Orthodox Jew, Senator Joe Lieberman. One Orthodox rabbi said of Lieberman, "He is not an Orthodox Jew; he is an orthodox liberal."

Abortion has harmed America spiritually and economically. If America becomes a Spanish speaking nation the true reason will have been the abortions that opened up the jobs for illegal aliens. Think about the damage that has been done to our faith, our nation and our culture in the name of abortion on demand.

THE MIDDLE EAST

The 14-year-old nephew of the brothers was murdered at school on November 14th. He was detained after school by a teacher. An 18-year-old student then stabbed him to death in front of the teacher. The police were not called; the family was merely told to come and pick up the body. We believe the teenager was murdered in hopes Nasser and Saeed would come to the funeral where they could be murdered. Officially the Palestinian Authority says they are condemned for being Israeli collaborators. In reality they have been condemned to death for converting other Muslims to Christ.

Read the front page story about our efforts to save the brothers at Worldnetdaily. The Israeli and other foreign press have reported the story but the liberal press in America has ignored it. Why?

We continue to seek families in the United States who will sponsor legal immigration of Palestinian Christians who have been persecuted by Yassar Arafat and his Islamic gangs. If you are in a position to sponsor the families of these brothers or others please call my office at 1-202-543-0300 in Washington, DC.

Had the 14-year-old, Abdhula Rauf, been in a Christian school in the West Bank he would still be alive. His family did not have the money to place him in a private Christian school. The RFC supports several Christian schools in the West Bank. If you would like to contribute to our work in the West Bank please contribute online.

You can also help by telling others about the situation of persecuted Christians under Islamic rule. Please forward this e-mail to your friends. If this Legislative Update has been forwarded to you and you would like to sign up, you can do so at our Internet site. Also, you can purchase our latest documentary, Holy Land Terror: Persecution of Christians for just $20.00 postage paid at our online store. This documentary has actual scenes from Palestinian TV and Palestinian schools run by Yassar Arafat. Please order a copy and show it to your Sunday School Class.

William J. Murray, Chairman

To assist the Religious Freedom Coalition with legislative work in Washington, DC and projects supporting Christians in Islamic area please make an online contribution.