URGENT! U.S. House Judiciary Committee to vote
on May 15, and full House of Representatives on
May 22, on "Meehan Amendment" to regulate
grassroots "lobbying" activity!

WASHINGTON (May 10, 2007) -- The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to meet on Tuesday, May 15, to consider so-called "lobbying reform" legislation, including the "Meehan Amendment," which is strongly opposed by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).

This amendment, sponsored by Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), would establish, for the first time, federal regulatory authority over efforts aimed at motivating citizens to communicate with their elected representatives about bills pending in Congress.

“The Meehan Amendment ought to be called the 'We Regard Our Constituents As Lobbyists Act of 2007'," commented NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "It is part of a broader effort by some politicians and special-interest groups to regulate and ultimately discourage the action messages that keep ordinary citizens informed about important legislation moving through Congress. The groups that are pushing for controls over so-called 'grassroots lobbying' really want lawmakers and other government officials to be more responsive to pressure from certain elites, including liberal special-interest groups and their fat-cat financial backers, the mainstream news media, and powerful congressional committee chairmen."

The full House of Representatives is expected to act on the "lobbying reform" bill (S. 1) on Tuesday, May 22. Depending on what happens in the Judiciary Committee, the full House may also vote on whether to include the Meehan provision in the bill.

Members of the full House, and especially the 40 members of the Judiciary Committee, need to hear from you now in opposition to the Meehan Amendment to S. 1!

On the NRLC website's Legislative Action Center, an easy tool will use your zip code to tell you the direct phone number of your representative. The tool will also tell you whether your representative is a Judiciary Committee member, and will suggest an appropriate phone message for you to work from when you call his or her office.

Using this tool, the call will take you just a few minutes -- please act now! To go to the Legislative Action Center tool, just click here, or copy and paste this Internet address into your browser address bar: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/callalert/index.tt?alertid=9724936&type=TA. Then, just enter your zip code and follow the instructions.

For further documentation on this issue, including the detailed analysis of the Meehan Amendment that NRLC sent to House members on May 4, and a letter signed by 40 organizations opposing the Meehan Amendment, click here.



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