File:Ted Poe 2009.jpg

One of the key promoters of the stupid birther madness.

The primary subject was health care reform, but there was discussion of a variety of subjects.

The birther bill, of which Poe is a sponsor:

HR 1503 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1503

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 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.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 12, 2009

Mr. POSEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDING.

Congress finds that under section 5 of article II of the Constitution of the United States, in order to be eligible to serve as President, an individual must be a natural born citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 35 years and has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION OF CANDIDATE’S ELIGIBILITY TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT.

(a) In General- Section 303(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act (2 U.S.C. 433(b)) is amended--

(1) by striking ‘and’ at the end of paragraph (5);

(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and inserting ‘; and’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

‘(7) in the case of a principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of President, 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 section 5 of article II of the Constitution.’.

(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the election for the office of President held in 2012 and each succeeding election for the office of President.

Cosponsors as of July 12th:

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Dan Burton (R-IN) John Campbell (R-CA) John Carter (R-TX) John Culberson (R-TX) Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) Kenny Marchant (R-TX) Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) Ted Poe (R-TX)

It was referred to the House Committee: Chair Robert Brady (D-PA); Ranking Member, Daniel Lungren (R-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Artur Davis (D-AL), Susan Davis (D-CA), Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Gregg Harper (R-MS), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Kenvin McCarthy (R-CA).

After the meeting, I asked Congressman Poe about his co-sponsorship of the Posey birther bill and he brought up the cases of Barry Goldwater (born in Arizona, while it was still a territory) and John McCain (born to American citizens in the Panama Canal Zone). I reminded him (he claims to be a history buff), that in neither of those cases was there doubt as to the details of the birth date or location of the person, only of the status of the birthplace, something that would not have been resolved by a birth certificate. He said that he was only trying to explain why he supported the bill and I told him he was being disingenuous. He shrugged his shoulders.