Is free speech, or worse, our ability to keep tabs on the Congress, at risk from a small section of a bill aimed at lobbying reform?
All of the Christian Right political groups have been on the horn today to get people to try and stop bill S.1 from passing with Section 220 intact – a section that would limit their ability to do just that.
The bill is a lobbying reform bill, and it is largely a great bill, they say, but Section 220 targets “paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying” – in other words, groups that contact the public in order to encourage the public to contact Congress about an issue.
Some groups that fall under this section claim that the bureaucratic red tape would severely limit their ability to keep the public informed and hold the Congress accountable to the people.
So far I have only seen right-wing groups, mostly Christian, speaking up about this, but if it is indeed a threat, the left should be concerned, too.
Apparently, the bill defines “grassroots lobbying firms” as any organization that encourages more than 500 members of the general public to contact Congress.
You can read the text of the bill here. You can also read the action alert from the American Family Association here, which summarizes why this is a potential problem for groups that keep the public informed of what Congress is doing.
The one thing I didn’t like about their communication was this: “Basically these new rules were written to isolate pro-family and conservative Christian organizations. Large corporations (which spend millions in lobbying expenses) would be exempt.”
If their characterization of the bill is correct, this is not a conservative Christian issue. This is an issue that affects grass-roots groups on the left and the right.
When people asked for Congress to reform lobbying, I don’t think they wanted restrictions on grass-roots organizing.
