Thursday, January 18, 2007

McCain to Vote in Favor of Removing Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure

The Hill reports that Senator McCain plans on supporting Senator Bennett's amendment that would remove the grassroots lobbying provision from S.1, despite previous support of such a measure. "McCain sponsored legislation last Congress that included an even broader requirement for grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. But now he will vote to defeat a similar measure." This amendment could still be voted on. Opponents argue that the provision will directly affect the level of activism by citizen groups. On the contrary, it will protect nonprofits and their right to contact their government leaders. The intention of the bill is to limit the impact to big dollar advertising and lobby firms. As Senator Lieberman commented yesterday on the Senate floor;

This grassroots lobbying provision would do nothing to stop, deter or interfere with individuals exercising their constitutional rights to petition our Government for redress. We are talking about disclosure, not censorship, not limits in any way on lobbying. We are talking about disclosure of large sums of money spent by professional organizations. We are not talking about barring any organization from conducting a grassroots lobbying campaign. And we are not talking about small grassroots lobbying efforts.

After last night's GOP filibuster, Senator Reid plans on trying to get cloture again today, but if not, he plans on pulling the measure from the floor. If not, consideration of S.1 will most likely go into the weekend.

Take Action and Support Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure!