Time to take action again, folks. The professional politicians and professional lobbyists are trying to limit your ability to organize and demand accountability from your elected representatives. The first bill put up before the US Senate under the new Democrat-controlled Congress is S.1, called “Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007”. As usual with names of legislation, the actual intent is opposite of what it’s called.
In fact, what it does, in Section 220, is seek to put grassroots lobbying groups under the same onerous regulations as paid and professional lobbyists. For example, communications from Vote on Marriage to voters would be treated the same as K Street lobbyist taking your senator out to lunch. Make no mistake, this is aimed squarely at groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family and the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute and others. In fact, the legislation is written in such a way that it sounds like pro-family, pro-life groups are the targets. Meanwhile, unions, trade groups, corporations, and even foreign governments are exempted from its provisions.
An amendment has already been proposed that would undo these restrictive burdens on free speech called the “Bennett Amendment.” You should contact your senators to let them know that they should vote “Yes” on the Bennett Amendment.
Find your senators’ contact information here. Phone calls are better than emails as are letters, but anything will do.
Technorati Tags:bill, First Amendment, lobbyist, politics, Senate
