Senator Weicker said the Helms amendment was "an attempt to impede the march of science."
Thus the only prohibition left from the original Helms amendment was "obscenity."
The Senate tabled the Helms amendment by a vote of 49 to 48.
In this, the season of the Helms amendment, his exhibition is unusually pertinent.
Opponents of the Helms amendment fear its effects on the arts would be severe and widespread.
As with any attempt to corral free expression, the Helms amendment does not know when to stop.
The House rejected the punitive Helms amendment to the $10.9 billion appropriations bill.
Would that the Senate had been as sensible; it passed the Helms amendment by voice vote six weeks ago.
The Helms amendment, affecting that money, would vastly expand the ban on bleach.
In the House bill there is no Helms amendment, and it would have been quietly dropped.