Congressman Introduces Eligibility Bill
With special thanks to Citizen Wells, WorldNetDaily is reporting that Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) yesterday introduced HR1503:
A freshman representative has introduced a bill to the U.S. Congress that would require presidential candidates to provide a birth certificate and other documents to prove their eligibility to occupy the Oval Office.
Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., filed H.R. 1503, an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which increased required campaign fund disclosure and was later amended to establish the Federal Elections Commission.
According to the Library of Congress’ bill-tracking website, H.R. 1503 would “require the principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of president to include with the committee’s statement of organization a copy of the candidate’s birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution.”
The full text of the bill is not yet available, as Posey introduced it only yesterday and the Government Printing Office typically takes a day or two to transfer the information to the bill-tracking site.
WND and other news organizations have contacted Posey’s office for comment, but no explanation or detail on the bill has been provided.
H.R. 1503 has been referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Posey’s bill, if enacted, would help clarify in future elections issues that have swirled around Barack Obama, whose qualifications to serve as president have been clouded by release of the candidate’s Certificate of Live Birth instead of an official birth certificate.
Update: AtlasShrugs posted on this topic this morning (02/14/09). As dear Pamela Gellar now posits, maybe we are all becoming “birthers!”
Update: The Politico reports further on the issue:
A spokesman for Florida Republican Congressman Bill Posey sends over a statement from the congressman explaining his bill to require that presidential candidates submit birth certificates is aimed at dousing the controversy — though he said the congressman himself thinks Obama could do more to put the issue to rest.
Says Posey:
Opponents of President Bush used the 2000 election results and the court decisions to question the legitimacy of President Bush to serve as President. Opponents of President Obama are raising the birth certificate issue as a means of questioning his eligibility to serve as President. Neither of these situations are healthy for our Republic. This bill, by simply requiring such documentation for future candidates for President will remove this issue as a reason for questioning the legitimacy of a candidate elected as President.
Posey’s spokesman, George Cecala, seemed to reference that line of reasoning when asked whether Posey believes Obama is in fact eligible to be president.
“I think he’s willing to take the president’s word for it,” Cecala said. “If the president wanted to put an end to the whole thing, he could order Hawaii to release the authentic birth certificate. That’s up to him.”
The Politico has an “introduced” form of the bill here.
Update: The OrlandoSentinel.com is reporting:
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Indialantic, has stirred up the hornet’s nest by filing legislation that would make it mandatory for future presidential candidates to include copies of their birth certificate when filing to run for the White House.
The freshman lawmaker said he did it to prevent a repeat of the controversy that has followed President Obama – who has been accused of not being an American citizen despite a Supreme Court decision not to hear a case that questioned Obama’s nationality.
“I have heard from a number of constituents who are not convinced that he’s eligible. It’s ridiculous to be having this debate this long after the election. So how do you prevent something like this from happening in the future? You require the birth certificate up front and take it off the table,” he said.
The bill almost immediately triggered a response from Florida Democrats, who accused the former state senator of trying to “fan the rumors on the extreme fringe of the Republican Party.”
“These rumors are completely false, but they just won’t give up. Congressman Posey should be focused on creating jobs and jumpstarting the economy, but it seems he’s only obsessed with pandering to the right wing,” wrote Karen Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
As for his own opinion on Obama’s nationality — Posey won’t say.
“I told you, I think that’s irrelevant,” Posey said. “I don’t want this to be an issue with the bill.”
He added: “I haven’t looked at the evidence. It’s not up to me to look at the evidence … I can’t swear on a stack of Bibles whether he is or isn’t.”
Update: Ballot-Access.org reports:
U.S. House member Bill Posey, a freshman Republican from Florida’s 15th district, has introduced HB 1503. It requires presidential candidates who file with the Federal Election Commission to include a copy of their birth certificate. The 15th district is centered on Florida’s central Atlantic coast, around the city of Melbourne.
The text of the bill is not yet available on the Library of Congress’ web page, http://thomas.loc.gov, but it probably will be by Monday, March 16.
In my view, this is a huge first step towards the ultimate goal of eligibility enforcement — requiring all candidates who seek the office of the presidency to fulfill all aspects of Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution.
While the likelihood of something getting past the current Congress is probably low, it is also a good thing that certain States are considering similar types of initiatives:
A current listing of eligibility lawsuits can be found here.
-Phil
[...] It is interesting that Freiberger believes himself the arbiter of conservative legitimacy. So much so, that he feels it necessary to proclaim the death of the FRC, a group that has been around since 1983 and one of the only research/policy organizations dedicated primarily to social (as opposed to political or economic) conservatism in the country. Now, I am not saying that Newsreal Blog has a John Birch Society-like attack plan for the Tea Parties, but it seems to devote a larger proportion of its time to pronouncing the acceptable “party line” for conservatives than most other blogs. It was Newsreal, for instance, that was first amongst conservatives to come out against the “Birthers” even while a number of congressmen were trying to move an eligibility bill through Congress. [...]