FIC Blog

A bill to muzzle pro-family voters has been introduced in the new Democrat-controlled Senate:

The ethics bill before the Senate not only cracks down on lawmakers, but also subjects politically active ministers and neighborhood groups to the same rules as K Street lobbyists.
    Under the legislation, grass-roots organizations that attempt to “influence the general public” to contact members of Congress would have to register as lobbyists and file financial reports — or face a $200,000 fine. The requirements could apply to a preacher who goes on TV or radio and tells listeners to call their congressman in support of a particular issue, such as a constitutional amendment against homosexual “marriage.”…

But issue groups spanning the political spectrum — from National Right to Life and Focus on the Family to the League of Conservation Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union — say the expanded definition of lobbyist will imperil citizens’ constitutional rights to free speech and to petition the government.
    “This bill goes way too far,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. “This gets at the citizen groups who are really the ones making their voices heard about our democracy.” 

FIC Action earlier this week asked our members to contact Senators Dodd and Lieberman and encourage them to support the Bennett Amendment to S. 1. Senator Robert Bennett’s (R-UT) Amendment would strike the section with the onerous reporting requirements and fines entirely from the bill.

But, shockingly, Sen. Lieberman appears to support the bill in its current form:

“I gather some groups are upset,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent who supports the bill. “But it is really aimed at attempts to influence Congress by these astroturf groups.”
    Mr. Lieberman said the $25,000 threshold would protect real grass-roots activists, an assertion that drew criticism from Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice.
    “Some of the big churches spend more than that in a week,” said Mr. Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative constitutional-law group. “We have a constitution that gives us the free exercise of religion, and part of that is being able to address the moral and religious values of the day.” 
 

Discussion on the floor of the Senate began yesterday, but thanks to some parliamentary maneuvering by the Republicans no action is now scheduled on S. 1.

That means you can still contact Senators Dodd and Lieberman by going here and asking them–particularly Sen. Lieberman, who was re-elected on the strength of conservative votes–to support our constitutional rights to free speech and to petition the government.