Editing Jesse Helms (section)

===Social issues===
Although Helms recognized budget concerns and nominations as predominant, he rejected calls by Baker to move debate on social issues to 1982,<ref>{{cite news |title=Helms Says Senate May Consider Some Social Measures This Year |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/28/us/helms-says-senate-may-consider-some-social-measures-this-year.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 28, 1981 |page=9 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> with conservatives seeking to discuss abortion, school prayer, the [[minimum wage]], and the "[[fair housing]]" policy.<ref>{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Senate Republicans Decide to Postpone 'Emotional' Debates |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 27, 1981 |page=1 }}</ref> With the new Congress, Helms and [[Robert K. Dornan]] again proposed an amendment banning abortion in all circumstances,<ref>{{cite news |title=Abortion Foes Meet With Reagan After March in Capital |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 23, 1981 |page=14 }}</ref> and also proposed a bill defining fetuses as human beings, thereby taking it out of the hands of the federal courts,<ref>{{cite news |title=Courts in the dock |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=June 19, 1982 |page=65 }}</ref> along with Illinois Republican [[Henry Hyde]] and Kentucky Democrat [[Romano Mazzoli]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Nadine |last=Brozan |title=Opposing Sides Step Up Efforts on Abortion Measure |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 15, 1981 |page=14 }}</ref> More successfully, Helms passed an amendment banning federal funds from being used for abortion unless the woman's life is in danger.<ref>{{cite news |first=Francis X. |last=Cline |title=Senate Passes New Abortion Aid Curb |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 22, 1981 |page=16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=Lewis |author-link=Anthony Lewis |title=Cotton Mather Policies |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 24, 1981 |page=E19 }}</ref> His support was key to the nomination of [[C. Everett Koop]] as [[United States Surgeon General|Surgeon General]], by proposing lifting the age limit that would otherwise have ruled out Koop.<ref>{{cite news |title=House May Drop Objections on Surgeon General Appointment |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=May 21, 1981 }}</ref> He proposed an amendment taking school prayer out of the remit of the Supreme Court, which was criticized for being unconstitutional; despite Reagan's endorsement, the bill was eventually rejected, after twenty months of dispute and numerous filibusters, in September 1982, by 51–48.<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=School Prayer Measure Dies in 51–48 Senate Vote |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 24, 1982 |page=19 }}</ref> Helms and Strom Thurmond sponsored another amendment to prevent the Department of Justice filing suits in defence of federal busing, which he contended wasted taxpayer money without improving education;<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=America to end busing |work=[[The Times]] |page=4 |date=June 22, 1981 }}</ref> this was filibustered by [[Lowell Weicker]] for eight months, but passed in March 1982.<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Antibusing Move Passed by Senate After Long Fight |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |date=March 3, 1982 }}</ref> However, Democratic [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Tip O'Neill]] blocked the measure from being considered by the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite news|last=Roberts|first=Steven|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/03/us/antibusing-moves-passed-by-senate-after-long-fight.html|title=Antibusing Moves Passed by Senate after Long Fight|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 3, 1982|access-date=May 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/04/us/house-speaker-says-he-won-t-act-on-senate-school-busing-measure.html |title=House Speaker Says He Won'T Act On Senate School Busing Measure |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 4, 1982 |access-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref>

In 1981, Helms started secret negotiations to end an 11-year impasse and pave the way for desegregation of historically white and historically black colleges in North Carolina.<ref>{{cite news |title=Carolina Settles Integration Suit on Universities |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 21, 1981 |page=22 }}</ref> In response to a rival anti-discrimination bill in 1982, he proposed a bill outlawing granting tax-free status to schools that discriminated racially, but allowing schools that discriminate on the grounds of religion to avoid taxes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Furor Grows Over Bill to Curb Tax Break for Biased Schools |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=February 1, 1982 }}</ref> When the [[Voting Rights Act]] came up for amendment in 1982, Helms and Thurmond criticized it for bias against the South, arguing that it made Carolinians "second-class citizens" by treating their states differently,<ref>Link (2007), p. 260</ref> and proposed an amendment that extended its terms to the whole country, which they knew would bury it.<ref name="Reagan backs extension">{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Reagan backs extension to black voting Act |work=[[The Times]] |page=4 |date=August 6, 1981 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Howard |last=Ball |title=Voting Rights |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 2, 1981 |page=10 }}</ref> However, it was extended anyway, despite Helms's filibuster, which he promised to lead "[[wikt:until the cows come home|until the cows come home]]".<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Senators Debate Voting Rights Act |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 10, 1982 |page=27 }}</ref> In 1983, Helms hired [[Claude Allen]], an African American, as his press secretary. Despite his publicly aired belief that he was one of the best-liked senators amongst black staff in Congress, it was pointed out that he did not have any African-American staff of his own, prompting the hiring of the twenty-two-year-old,<ref>Link (2007), p. 259</ref> who had switched parties when he was press secretary to [[Bill Cobey]] in the previous year's campaign.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ian |last=Urbina |author2=Kirkpatrick, David D. |title=For Bush's Ex-Aide, Quick Fall After Long Climb |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 14, 2006 }}</ref>

In 1983, Helms led the  16-day filibuster in the Senate opposing the proposed establishment of [[Martin Luther King Day]] as a [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]]. Helms and others claimed, "another federal holiday would be costly for the economy." Although the Congressional Budget Office cited a cost of $18 million, Helms claimed it would cost $12 billion a year.<ref name="washingtonpost_1983"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/04/mlk-filibuster/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|title=What Martin Luther King Jr. said about the filibuster: 'A minority of misguided senators'|author=Brockell, Gillian|date=January 4, 2022|access-date=May 4, 2023|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220105120525/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/04/mlk-filibuster/}}</ref><ref name=Economist>{{cite news |title=Martin Luther King; Honoured, but still controversial |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=October 22, 1983|page=39}}</ref> Helms "distributed a 300-page packet claiming that the civil rights leader was a political radical who adopted "action-oriented Marxism"<ref name="washingtonpost_1983"/> and detailing Dr. King's supposed treachery"<ref name="NYT_2017_Sokol">{{citation|author=Jason Sokol |url=https://nyti.ms/2iCnQCk|title=Which Martin Luther King Are We Celebrating Today? |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 16, 2017 |access-date=January 16, 2017}}</ref> in which he accused King of "appear[ing] to have welcomed collaboration with Communists",<ref name="NYT_2017_Sokol" /> [[Stanley Levison]] and [[Jack O'Dell]].<ref name="washingtonpost_1983">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/helms_stalls_kings_day.html |title=Helms Stalls King's Day In Senate |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 4, 1983 |first=Helen |last=Dewar}}</ref>  Helms ended the filibuster in exchange for a new tobacco bill. President Reagan signed the bill on October 19, 1983.<ref name=Economist/><ref name="NYT_2017_Sokol"/> Helms then demanded that FBI surveillance tapes allegedly detailing philandering on King's part be released, although Reagan and the courts refused. The conservatives attempted to rename the day "National Equality Day" or "National Civil Rights Day", but failed, and the bill was passed.<ref name=Economist/> Writing in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' several years later, [[David Broder]] attributed Helms' opposition to the MLK holiday to racism on Helms's part.<ref>[http://www.racematters.org/jessehelmswhiteracist.htm Race Matters – Jesse Helms, WhiteRacist, by David Broder]</ref>