If a high profile Hispanic or black is conservative he or she is immediately beaten up by Democrats who claim the person is "not really Black" or "doesn't understand Hispanic issues." How racist can they get?

Miguel Estrada came to the United States from Honduras at age seven. He did not speak a word of English when he arrived here. From there Estrada became an American immigrant success story. He graduated magna cum laude in 1986 from the Harvard Law School where he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia in 1983, also magna cum laude. He served as assistant solicitor general under both President George H. W. Bush and President Clinton.

Miguel Estrada is well qualified to be a federal judge. But, he is Hispanic and Democrats don't want any conservative Hispanics in leadership positions. If Estrada were a white man Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy would jump on board and vote for him because of the numerous recommendations he has received from the American Bar Association and other groups.

Worse, some Democrats have lied to their constituents, saying one thing in English and another in Spanish. During the Louisiana Senate run off in December, Mary Landrieu ran ads on Spanish speaking radios stations saying in Spanish that she would vote for Miguel Estrada's confirmation. In English she has promised the pro-abortion groups that she would vote against him. This is pure racism on the part of Mary Landrieu. The Senator is basically saying, "Hey ... these Hispanic folks are so dumb that I can tell them one thing in Spanish and do the opposite when I speak English ... ha ha ha!"

Do you live in a state that has elected to the Senate one of these racist Democrats who use minority voters? If so, you may want to call and tell your Senator to stop the filibuster against Miguel Estrada. If you live in Louisiana and speak Spanish, be sure to tell Mary Landrieu, "Usted es un mentiroso y un racista."

In the last week I have had the opportunity to speak with members of the Republican Senate Leadership. They are not going to back down and the President is not going to withdraw the nomination of Miguel Estrada. In the end, the constant use of the race card by the Democrats is going to come back to haunt them.

This week I was briefed by various members of the House Republican leadership. I have been assured that Congressman Weldon's anti-cloning bill will be passed in March. An almost identical bill was passed in the 107th Congress in the House but failed to pass the Senate. The Senate continues to be the problem with social conservative issues such as cloning.

The House is doing its job. With Tom DeLay (R-TX) as the Majority Leader, legislation is moving quickly through the House on all fronts. Appropriations bills and bills on social conservative issues are receiving fair hearings and being sent to the Senate in plenty of time for action. The obstructionist Democrats in the Senate continue to thwart the will of the people as expressed by the House.

A WORD ABOUT WELFARE

Don't hear much about the "welfare problem" any more do you? When Newt Gingrich took control of the House as Majority Leader during the Republican Revolution, his first priority was to fix welfare programs. The Republican majority led by Newt Gingrich wanted to put those on welfare to work---to teach them how to fish rather than to give them fish, as the old adage goes. Among the program's new requirements, pregnant girls would be required to continue in high school to get welfare payments. If they missed a day of school they lost 1/5 of their weekly check. Those out of school were required to attend trade schools to get welfare and then a cap was placed on the time welfare would be paid.

The liberals predicted that this would place "millions of people in poverty." The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 replaced the failed programs of the liberals which had kept several generations on welfare. What was the result?

The Heritage Foundation has just released a comprehensive study showing that the result of "welfare to work" has been a drastic reduction in poverty in America. Liberals said the program would place 2.6 million into poverty. Actually more than 3.5 million FEWER people are in poverty today than in 1995. There are 2.9 FEWER children living in poverty than in 1995. The greatest decrease in poverty is among black children. There are 1.2 million fewer black children in poverty today than in the mid-1990s. According to the Census Bureau, the number of children in hunger has been cut in half since 1995.

The employment of single mothers has increased greatly under the Republican program. Employment of single mothers age 18 to 24 has doubled and the explosion in out-of-wedlock births has come to a halt for the first time in decades. Further, more people are getting married. Out-of-wedlock births, which hit the 70% mark among blacks by 1995, have started to move back down. Please note that at the beginning of Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" the rate of out-of-wedlock births among blacks stood at less than 20%.

The Democrats don't like all these black folks working and making money because they may become Republicans. So the Democrats want to change the current programs to extend the time people can be on welfare and reduce the work requirements. Don't let the Democrats put proud black folks who are working back on welfare. Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to keep the welfare to work programs as they are, so even more people in poverty can be helped to live self sufficient and productive lives.

MIDDLE EAST

I have exciting news about our Middle Eastern programs to help Christians trapped under Islamic rule. We have a new way to help Palestinian Christians who don't receive any aid from the EU or the UN. In a few hours I will send you a separate e-mail detailing how you can help!

Please forward the Legislative Update to your friends and associates. If you received this e-mail as a forward and would like to receive it weekly, please sign up at www.rfcnet.org

William J. Murray, Chairman

To continue to inform the public on key issues, financial help is needed. Please consider giving a contribution online or mail a check to Religious Freedom Coalition, PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013.

We do not spam! You are only on our list because you signed an RFC petition or participated in some other RFC Internet activity. If you do not wish to receive our updates please reply to this e-mail with the word REMOVE in the subject box. We do not want anyone on the list who does not want to receive our materials ... Sending out unwanted e-mails just ties up our server