The Senate will soon consider and vote on the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 (S. 1).  While Concerned Women for America (CWA) certainly supports efforts by Congress to reform lobbying practices – in light of recent scandals involving corrupt lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff – this bill unfortunately includes a negative measure that CWA is hopeful will be stripped out by a proposed amendment.

Amendment 20, proposed by Senator Robert Bennett (R-Utah) and co-sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), will remove the harmful provisions that could severely impair how grassroots organizations communicate with their constituents regarding legislative matters.  Additionally, it will help to reform lobbying issues highlighted by the Abramoff scandal while protecting grassroots organizations who alert their constituents to key events and action needed on Capitol Hill.  CWA applauds Senators Bennett and McConnell for respecting the rights of the American people while working to reform lobbying practices.

Last year, the 109^th Congress worked on similar legislation that aimed to reform lobbying rules, but lawmakers were unable to pass a final version for the President to sign.  The bill in the last Congress contained the same dangerous provisions which would cripple the ability of grassroots organizations like CWA to communicate with our members who count on us to provide them with key information they can get from no other source.

CWA urges the Senate to vote for Amendment 20 when the bill (S. 1) comes up for consideration.  Transparency and accountability are vital for D.C. lobbyists, but that’s not what America gets when Congress tries to keep grassroots citizen activists from getting information like this newsflash through groups like CWA that they freely support and rely upon.  CWA urges its supporters to call their senators and urge them to vote FOR Amendment 20 when the Senate considers S. 1.  The Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121.