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March 23, 2009, 06:15 PM ET
Lobbying Ban in National-Service Bill Comes Under Fire
In approving a bill last week to expand national-service programs, the House of Representatives adopted a last-minute amendment that would bar participants in the programs from attempting to influence legislation or taking part in various other political activities, including protests or voter-registration drives.
Two nonprofit organizations are now sending e-mail messages urging supporters to fight to keep the language out of the Senate version of the bill.
“The First Amendment protects against speech restrictions such as those in [this] amendment,” says OMB Watch, a government-watchdog group.
The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, a group that promotes nonprofit advocacy, calls the language “anti-nonprofit” and “anti-democratic,” adding that “civic participation is the touchstone of American democracy.”
The amendment was proposed by Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, to the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, H.R. 1388, at the end of the debate on the bill. Ms. Foxx opposed the GIVE Act and voted against it after her amendment was approved.
“Funds must be used for the purpose of service and encouraging others to serve within their communities,” she said on the floor. “They must not be allowed to be used for prohibited activities.” She said she did not want money going to ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which is often criticized by Republicans for its voter-registration activities.
The amendment would prohibit spending for organizations that provide abortion services, have been indicted for voter fraud, or are “engaged in political or legislative advocacy” — or, in a provision especially criticized by the two nonprofit groups, if they are “co-located on the same premises” as such organizations.
The groups say the language would ban individuals from lobbying even if they were using private money or engaging in activities outside the context of a national-service program.
The Senate is debating its version of the national-service bill, the Serve America Act, S. 277, this week.
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