GOP Rep Submits Bill To Require Birth Certificates From Prez Candidates

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Rep. Bill Posey, a freshman Republican from Florida, is now putting forward a bill that should be good news for a particular demographic that cares a whole lot about their issue: Those folks out there who insist that President Obama hasn’t offered a birth certificate to prove he’s a natural-born U.S. citizen.

CNN reports that Posey has submitted a bill to require all presidential candidates to submit a birth certificate — which Posey says is needed in order to remove this issue as a reason to question any president’s legitimacy.

“Opponents of President Bush used the 2000 election results and the court decisions to question the legitimacy of President Bush to serve as President,” Posey said in a statement. “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.”

Posey’s spokesperson told CNN that Posey takes President Obama’s word for it that he’s a citizen: “This was not meant as an insult to the president. It is simply meant as a way to clarify future election laws and to dispel the issue so we can move on with doing business for the country.”

A quick check of the Library of Congress’ Thomas site shows the bill does not have any cosponsors yet. But Posey only introduced it on Thursday, so he’s just getting started.

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