‘Strengthening The First Amendment’
‘Cheer On These Restraints Against Government Harassment’
SEN. MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “The legislation before us … will help advance other important conservative priorities too, like strengthening the First Amendment...” (Sen. McConnell, Floor Remarks, 12/17/15)
- “…cheer on these restraints against government harassment of political donors.” (Editorial, “Free Speech and the Freedom Caucus,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/18/15)
‘First Amendment Wins In Congressional Deal’
“First Amendment advocates are heaping praise on a … deal agreed to by congressional leaders this week, saying it heads off Obama administration attempts to restrict spending on political speech through administrative or executive action.” (“Free Speech Groups Hail First Amendment Wins In Congressional Deal,” Washington Free Beacon, 12/16/2015)
- “The budget and tax bills moving this week usefully block the IRS and other agencies from restricting political speech.” (Editorial, “Free Speech and the Freedom Caucus,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/18/15)
IRS: “The measure would effectively halt a two-year-long attempt by the IRS to set a clear limit on how much money such nonprofit groups, set up under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, can spend on politics. … The IRS has been working on clearer rules since revelations in 2013 that employees had been singling out for extra scrutiny nonprofits with names that included words such as ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot.’ IRS officials acknowledged that using such criteria was inappropriate…” (“Congress’ Budget Deal Halts Political Disclosure Efforts,” The Washington Post, 12/16/15)
- “One provision, which would prohibit IRS employees from conducting government business using private email addresses, appears to address the actions of former IRS official Lois Lerner. The former head of the agency’s tax-exempt division, Lerner used at least two private email addresses while handling tax exemption applications that, investigations later revealed, disproportionately resulted in delays and denials for conservative and ‘tea party’ groups.” (“Free Speech Groups Hail First Amendment Wins In Congressional Deal,” Washington Free Beacon, 12/16/2015)
SEC: “The bill mixes a range of Republican-backed policy provisions, such as preventing the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring publicly traded companies to disclose their political contributions…” (“Congress Reaches Fiscal Agreement Ending U.S. Oil Export Ban,” Bloomberg, 12/15/15)
- “This week’s budget deal also includes language that would prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission from advancing a regulation that would require public corporations to disclose their political donations...” (“Congress’ Budget Deal Halts Political Disclosure Efforts,” The Washington Post, 12/16/15)
- “In August, more than 40 Democratic senators signed a letter demanding that White take action on the corporate political spending rule. … But Section 707 of Title VII of the new ‘omnibus’ spending bill would make that impossible. None of the funds allocated to the SEC under the legislation can be used to pursue the rule, taking the pressure off White until the next administration -- and giving Congress more time to permanently revoke the SEC's authority to write a political spending rule.” (“Congress Is About To Make Citizens United Even Worse,” Huffington Post, 12/16/15)
EXECUTIVE ORDERS: “Another rider attached to the budget bans President Obama from issuing an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose their political spending, including donations to nonprofit groups engaged in elections, as a condition of submitting a bid.” (“Congress Is About To Make Citizens United Even Worse,” Huffington Post, 12/16/15)
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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
Related Issues: First Amendment, IRS, Regulations, Executive Orders, Appropriations
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