Beware: Grassroots Restrictions Amendment Down But Not Out
by: staff - May 22, 2007 - comment
While the House Judiciary Committee has defeated an amendment to a lobbying reform bill that would hinder pro-family organizations and other groups from communicating their values to Congress, the amendment may surface again. It is rumored it will be offered before the full House of Representatives this week.
Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) tried May 17 to attach his grassroots lobbying amendment to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (H.R. 2316), a bill designed to promote ethics reform among lobbyists. The amendment garnered criticism from committee members on both sides of the aisle. It was ultimately defeated.
Many believe the amendment would turn the First Amendment rights to free speech and to petition the government on end by requiring many organizations and individuals, as well as some churches, to register as “lobbyists.” Once registered, those groups and individuals would be subject to miles of red tape, forcing them to take time away from addressing crucial issues.
If you believe you should be able to receive information from pro-family organizations and communicate with Congress without registering as a lobbyist and reporting activities, please urge your congressman to oppose the Meehan Amendment or any other amendment that would interfere with Americans’ First Amendment right to petition the government.
More specifically, the Meehan Amendment would classify as a “lobbying firm” “a person or entity that is retained by 1 or more clients (other than that person or entity) to engage in paid communications campaigns to influence the general public to lobby Congress, and receives income of, or spends or agrees to spend, an aggregate of $100,000 or more for such efforts in any quarterly period.”
Some believe that certain members of Congress, tired of hearing from people who hold traditional, pro-family values, see this amendment as a way to keep them in the dark on what bills they are slipping through Congress.
The Meehan Amendment is similar to a set of grassroots restrictions that were buried within the Senate’s lobbying reform bill, S. 1, earlier this year. Thanks to your calls and e-mails, however, harmful restrictions were removed from S. 1 and kept from H.R. 2316.
While the Meehan Amendment was sunk in committee, it could resurface May 24, when the full House is expected to consider H.R. 2316.
If you believe you should be able to receive information from pro-family organizations and communicate with Congress without registering as a lobbyist and reporting activities, please urge your congressman to oppose the Meehan Amendment or any other amendment that would interfere with Americans’ First Amendment right to petition the government.
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