The 1st Amendment to the Constitution declares that the people of the United States have a right to assemble, speak and petition the government for redress of grievance that cannot be abridged. But with the passage of H.R. 347, the Congress has gone ahead and abridged that right anyway. H.R. 347 (bizarrely named the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act”) declares that whoever knowingly engages in protest near a building where the president is doing his business is guilty of a federal crime if the protest “impedes” or “disrupts” the flow of government business or official functions.
“Whoever
… knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions
…or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).
(b) The punishment for a violation of subsection (a) is–
(1) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, if–
(A) the person, during and in relation to the offense, uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm; or
(B) the offense results in significant bodily injury as defined by section 2118(e)(3); and
(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.”
No more demonstrating at presidential appearances, at least not if you don’t want to be arrested. No more demonstrating even near wherever the president is, even if nobody gets hurt, even if no property is damaged, even if nobody trespasses (see section b(2)). Raise your voice too loud and bother the president as he goes about his business and you can get tossed in federal prison for a year. Even talk about doing such a thing can get you a year in prison.
The members of Congress who voted for H.R. 347 struck against a blow against freedom of assembly, freedom of protest, and freedom of speech.
Who are the members of Congress voting for H.R. 347? The list is 388 members long, too long to list here.
Who are the members of Congress voting to stop H.R. 347? In Roll Call #73, they number just three:
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All other articles reporting the votes against HR347, report Rep. Justin Amash
Rep. Paul Broun and Rep. Ron Paul … all republicans.
Your article however reports that Rep. Keith Ellison (a democrat) voted against the bill, and does not mention Ron Paul as one of the three who voted against it. Was this an unintentional misprint on your part, or was it intended to black out Ron Paul?
So much for any progressive movement in the Congress…it exists NOT!
Yes, it is all part of a grand conspiracy to make Ron Paul look bad.
Actually, no, it’s not. I just couldn’t resist writing that.
Go to the congressional source, which we link to here. The final vote to accept the Senate version and pass the bill on to the President’s desk for signature is the vote we reference here. Ron Paul didn’t show up for that vote, and Keith Ellison did indeed vote no.
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does not criminalize protests. this law has been on the books since 1971. If it criminalized protests, we would not have been able to protest since 1971. The ACLU says it better than I can.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/how-big-deal-hr-347-criminalizing-protest-bill
Yes, the ACLU did say it better than you could…
… because as the ACLU points out in the body of the article, the new law can indeed be used to arrest and charge people for protesting.
Secret Service could stop Lawful Protest..Lawful..Clearly this is a problem and a major restriction on our Constitutional rights. The next one coming will say it’s unable to write anything that impedes the government from carrying out its policies. Better wake up America or your time will be limited. Ronald Reagan said Freedom is precious and within a generation can become extinct.
I will not be voting for either of WVs federal senators, or for WVs district 6 congresswoman for voting for HR 347.
Tom Aaron,
85 Edgewood Acres,
Sutton, WV. 26601
304-765-2781
The 1st Amendment to the Constitution declares that the people of the United States have a right to assemble, speak and petition the government for redress of grievance that cannot be abridged. I would love to see the day when my constitution gets abridged.
Well Mr. Toeller, you have your wish. Your First Amendment rights have just been abridged. Now, what are you going to do about it? Little more than post your opinions on a website I imagine. It seems that is the new way for political protests; all that our government will tolerate from us, for now. How long before we are like China and have no voice without sacrifice of life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness. Shame on anyone in support of this measure. Shame.
So I figured out what happened Paul missed the vote on the 27th Feb 2012 but made a NAY vote 28 Feb 2012 for the “final vote”. Apparently Ellison had wanted to amend the resolution but was not able to and ended up voting YEA the following day. “Final Vote” 28 Feb 2012
FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 149
(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H R 347 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 28-Feb-2011 7:03 PM
QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended
BILL TITLE: Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act
Yeas Nays PRES NV
Republican 223 3 14
Democratic 176 16
Independent
TOTALS 399 3 30
—- YEAS 399 —
Ackerman
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Altmire
Andrews
Austria
Baca
Bachmann
Bachus
Baldwin
Barletta
Barrow
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Bass (CA)
Bass (NH)
Becerra
Benishek
Berg
Berkley
Berman
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boren
Boswell
Boustany
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Braley (IA)
Brooks
Brown (FL)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Butterfield
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carney
Carson (IN)
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Chandler
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cohen
Cole
Conaway
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Critz
Crowley
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis (KY)
DeFazio
DeLauro
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Deutch
Diaz-Balart
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Dold
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellison
Ellmers
Emerson
Engel
Eshoo
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Flake
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Fortenberry
Foxx
Frank (MA)
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Fudge
Gallegly
Garamendi
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Gonzalez
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grijalva
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanabusa
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Heinrich
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Higgins
Himes
Hirono
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Inslee
Israel
Issa
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Jenkins
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly
Kildee
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kinzinger (IL)
Kissell
Kline
Kucinich
Labrador
Lance
Landry
Langevin
Lankford
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
Latta
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Long
Lowey
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luján
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Lynch
Mack
Maloney
Manzullo
Marino
Markey
Matheson
Matsui
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McCarthy (NY)
McCaul
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McHenry
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
McNerney
Meehan
Mica
Michaud
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Moore
Moran
Mulvaney
Murphy (CT)
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Olver
Owens
Palazzo
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Paulsen
Pearce
Pelosi
Pence
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Petri
Pingree (ME)
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Polis
Pompeo
Posey
Price (NC)
Quayle
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Reyes
Ribble
Richardson
Richmond
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (AR)
Ross (FL)
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Runyan
Ruppersberger
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Scalise
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schrader
Schwartz
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott (VA)
Scott, Austin
Scott, David
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Sewell
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Speier
Stark
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Sullivan
Sutton
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tierney
Tipton
Tonko
Tsongas
Turner
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Webster
Weiner
Welch
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (FL)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Woolsey
Yarmuth
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (IN)
—- NAYS 3 —
Amash
Broun (GA)
Paul
—- NOT VOTING 30 —
Carnahan
Castor (FL)
DeGette
Edwards
Farenthold
Forbes
Giffords
Gutierrez
Hanna
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Holden
Jones
Jordan
Kingston
Lamborn
LaTourette
Marchant
Meeks
Payne
Price (GA)
Rohrabacher
Rush
Shuler
Smith (WA)
Tiberi
Towns
Walberg
Wu
Young (FL)
28 Feb 2011 sorry
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