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Advocacy Blog


Monday, February 28, 2005

527 Hearing Details Set
Senate Rules and Administration Committee (Chairman Lott, R-Miss.) will hold a hearing on pending legislation that would revise the regulation of organizations registered under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which governs certain political entities that expend funds independent of specific candidate's campaign organizations.

DATE: Tuesday, March 8, 9:30 a.m.
PLACE: 301 Russell Bldg.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 05:58:15 PM



Sen. Inhofe Investigating a Coalition of State and Local Air
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Inhofe's staff is investigating a coalition of state and local air quality officials that recently testified against his "Clear Skies" legislation. The State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators/Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials was asked to provide financial records, including IRS filings and details of government grants or contracts. The groups' executive director, Bill Becker, accused the Senate panel of trying "to intimidate the associations, and our members are very troubled by that." Andrew Wheeler, Inhofe's committee director, defended the investigation and said it had nothing to do with the "Clear Skies" testimony. "We've had issues with STAPPA for years," he said. "We've been looking at how they reach their decisions for quite a while." He added that while the group purports to represent all states, their position is based on how a majority of members votes on a particular issue. Becker said that is the case, just as a measure that receives a 10-8 vote in a congressional committee "is reported out of committee nonetheless."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:36:13 PM



Nonprofit Coalition Opposes New 527 Legislation
Check out the article about a coalition of groups (including OMB Watch) opposing the new 527 legislation.

Click here for an analysis of the pending legislation.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:23:45 PM



Friday, February 25, 2005

Clinton Introduces the "Count Every Vote" Bill
Sen. Hillary Clinton recently introduced the "Count Every Vote" bill, cosponsored by Sens. Kerry, Boxer, Lautenberg, and Mikulski. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) plans to introduce a House counterpart. The bill would provide a series of reforms designed to provide a minimal level of interstate and intrastate uniformity in voting procedures, while encouraging greater voter participation in general.

The bill would: Create uniform rules for the handling of "provisional" ballots;Require generous and adequately staffed early voting opportunities;Boost training for poll workers;Require paper receipts to ensure accountability in the use of electronic voting machines;Adopt the Texas standard for restoration of voting rights for ex-felons;Make Election Day a federal holiday to facilitate voting;Provide new federal funding to ensure full implementation of the reforms.



Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 03:11:57 PM



Thursday, February 24, 2005

FEC Admonishes Right to Life Group
The Federal Election Commission has admonished Wisconsin Right to Life for posting endorsements of President Bush and others on its Web site last year, but the group that brought the complaint is mulling a lawsuit to force the FEC to take more action.

For more information.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 03:06:07 PM



Journalism Investigation
A follow up on our article.

Yesterday, Democratic Reps. John Conyers (Mich.) and Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) asked the Government Accountability Office to expand its investigation of illegal government propaganda efforts by looking into James Guckert's work as a White House reporter for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA. They claimed the administration "gave prepacked print stories to Mr. Guckert, which he reprinted wholesale."



Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:57:55 PM



Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Watcher Out Today!
The new Watcher has arrived! It has tons of articles on 527 legislation, what's new in faithbased policy and political cronyism in PEPFAR grants. Take a look!

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 03:06:31 PM



Wednesday, February 16, 2005

527 Legislation in the Senate
On February 2, 2005, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI), and Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA)--and two key Senators, Republican Trent Lott (R-MS) and Democrat Charles Schumer (D-NY) re-introduced legislation in Congress to stop section 527 organizations from illegally spending millions of soft-dollars to influence federal elections.

However, the 527 legislation introduced by Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to create a rift in the Senate Republican leadership. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is expected to support it because of his strong ties to the White House, and President Bush has said that he would support legislating curbs on the tax-exempt groups that attacked him ferociously in the last election. But Senate Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is an ardent opponent of campaign-finance restrictions and could try to torpedo the bill, even if Frist gets behind it.

For more information on BCRA and 527s.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 06:31:02 PM



Monday, February 07, 2005

President's Budget Includes Social Service Cuts
The White House released the 2006 budget today. It includes funding cuts for many social service programs. The funding cuts would be a small slice out of the federal budget -- $2.3 billion, or 0.56 percent, out of the $412.7 billion requested for fiscal 2005 for domestic programs and homeland security that is subject to Congress's annual discretion.

But the cuts are politically sensitive, targeting popular programs that Bush has been touting on the campaign trail. The Education Department; a nutrition program for women, infants and children; Head Start; and homeownership, job-training, medical research and science programs all face cuts in 2006.

This mornings Washington Post had the Democratic response:

"Despite [administration] denials, this memorandum confirms what we suspected all along," said Thomas S. Kahn, Democratic staff director on the House Budget Committee. "Next February, the administration plans to propose spending cuts in key government services to pay for oversized tax cuts."

02:47:50 PM



Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Faith-based groups Handing Out Gospel Tracts in Sri Lanka
From www.agapepress.com

...A Christian ministry that sent 200 responders to Sri Lanka to help with tsunami relief efforts has also equipped its workers with specially designed gospel tracts entitled "When Disaster Strikes." These witnessing tools, newly released by the Texas-based American Tract Society (ATS), were given to Victim's Relief Ministries, one of many groups engaged in the disaster response. Mark Brown, vice president of ATS, says the tracts will be used by many relief agencies. "It's a tool that people can take with them," he notes, "and we really want people to be discerning in their use of it. A lot of people need all kinds of things right now -- food, shelter, medical assistance -- and sometimes you kind of have to wait just a moment while they get all those needs met, and then give them a gospel presentation. So we're encouraging missionaries and different agencies to carry these tracts with them, for when the time comes up and it's right to use that in an effective way." ATS mobilized quickly to provide ministry resources as soon as word of the devastating waves in Asia reached the U.S. "We've always been responding to different kinds of disasters," Brown says, "and in the last 10 years we've really developed a 'Quick Response Program' that will literally stop the presses and get a tract on that's needed halfway around the world if necessary. And we'll get it to print and into the hands of people and churches within a very short period of time." The ATS spokesman notes that ATS was providing its services in times of crisis even as far back as the Civil War, and after September 11, 2001, the agency printed more than 4 million gospel tracts relating to the terrorist attacks.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:14:47 PM




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