Daily Congressional Roundup, July 1st

H.R. 5690- To remove the African National Congress from treatment as a terrorist organization

Status: Signed into Law by President Bush

Commentary: The U.S. Government keeps a terrorist watch list that includes organizations all over the world who have caused unrest in their home countries or fought against an active government. Inexcusably, the African National Congress, which was led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nelson Mandela, which fought against Apartheid in South Africa during the late 80's/early 90's was included on this list. Our government was wasting resources keeping track of a nobel peace prize winner as a possible terrorist threat. This really just shows how indescriminant the war on terror has become in our country. This bill was introduced to remove all former members of the ANC from the terrorist watch list, and it was passed easily by both houses of Congress this spring and signed into law by President Bush immediately yesterday, July 1st. It's good that this finally got straightened out, but it's sad that Congress had to waste time debating this and ultimately passing it. If you ever wonder why we have gridlock in government, it's because they are wasting time fixing things that never should have happened in the first place like this.