Disclose Act - HR 5175

A vote could come as early as tomorrow in the House of Representatives on the Disclose Act - HR 5175.  We will respond to this Act later on in this blog.  Our information comes from National Right to Life (NRLC) who strongly opposes this legislation as we do. 

 

If enacted, incorporated groups like Lake County Right to Life (LCRTL) would have severe restrictions on communication with the public about the actions of their federal lawmakers.  Wow!  Why is the National Rifle Association (NRA) making a deal to remain neutral?  According to press reports, the House of Representatives leadership has added a narrow carve out that will exempt the NRA from some of the key restrictions.  As a payback, the NRA will not be involved in the final version of the bill. The NRLC says this is a "pernicious, unprincipled and unconstitutional"  bill.

 

This bill was crafted in response to the Supreme Court decision on Campaign Finance. This bill  would place severe restrictions on the ability of the average citizen to give money to a group who supports a pro-life candidate.  The citizens giving the money would expose themselves and their families to harassment and intimidation by the government.  It would also place severe reporting requirements on the organization that receives the money.  Layer upon layer of record keeping would be required by the federal government.  If passed, this bill adds 90 additional pages to the 800 federal law pages regulating campaigns and contributions, as well as the Federal Election Commission's 1200 pages of regulations.  That alone would be enough the discourage any organization.

 

The Byzantine regulations of this bill would take effect 30 days after passage without any regulations to guide organizations through the legal minefield this bill would create.  The bill would codify a vague and expansive definition of express advocacy under which any expenditure for public communication that takes a position on a candidates character, qualifications or fitness for office may be deemed as an independent expenditure which would require numerous and burdensome reporting requirements.

 

Take the case of a 75 year old woman with health problems who has religious convictions and donates to a pro-life group for ads for a particular candidate.  That's wonderful, but under this bill, she must appear in the ad and have her name and address posted on the internet.  Once posted, I wonder if she will get the government health care that we have already enacted, or will she be deemed too old?  This is "radio frequency jamming," a technique used by socialist countries to prevent the people from hearing any information other than government information.

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Why are no other groups urging their membership to oppose this bill?  Why is there no public outcry?  Why is the pro-life movement standing alone once again?   This is why pro-life is single issue.  The movement has stood alone in past times.  This is why alliances are important, but the right to life movement needs to remain single issue only and not be lured to devote valuable time and effort to other causes.