Walter B. Jones: “I am again on the floor tonight because in this country, the greatest Nation in the world, our ministers, priests…”

“I am again on the floor tonight because in this country, the greatest Nation in the world, our ministers, priests, rabbis, and clerics cannot have the freedom of speech to talk about the policies and political issues of the day. The history on that is simple. Prior to 1954, any minister, priest, rabbi, or cleric who wanted to speak freely about the politics or the moral or the policy issues of the day, they could do so without any threat from the Federal Government. Well, in 1954 Lyndon Baynes Johnson put an amendment on a revenue bill going through the Senate that basically said that if you are a 501(c)(3), you may not have any type of speech that could be interpreted as being somewhat of a political nature or a moral political nature. I have problems with this, Madam Speaker, simply because the Constitution of the United States of America, the first amendment says that any individual, church, or any individual has the right to speak freely of whatever should come to their mind that they feel like they should mention to their fellow citizen or to a congregation.”