[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 349, LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1994

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                               speech of

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 29, 1994

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, legislative action continues on the Lobbying 
Disclosure Act Conference Report. I voted against this measure 
primarily because of the so-called gag rule on grass-roots lobbying. 
This provision, buried in the conference report, is designed to kill 
citizen pressure from back home that has been so effective in the last 
few years.
  This gag rule would force many groups, including religiously 
affiliated organizations, to register and report their activities to a 
new bureaucracy in the executive branch. This raises constitutional and 
financial considerations for grass-roots organizations.
  Who will be called a lobbyist under this bill? Anyone spending 10 
percent of his or her time talking to Federal officials and whose 
lobbying income exceeds $2,500 or expenses are more than $5,000 in a 6-
month period. No grass-roots group can exist without somebody in that 
group devoting his or her time to the effort. Because this bill would 
identify that person as a lobbyist, the entire organization and its 
members may be brought under the reporting and penalty provisions.
  A newspaper in our district, the High Point Enterprise, stated, 
``Citizens who join their voices once or twice in an effort to 
influence Congress should not be treated the same as Washington's 
standing army of professional corporate and special-interest group 
lobbyists.'' Let's not trample on the rights of citizens to protest the 
actions of their government. Our constituents should not have to 
register with a bureaucracy in Washington. That's not the American way. 
Let's kill the gag rule on grass-roots lobbying and preserve every 
American's right to voice his or her opinion.

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