[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9566-H9567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     POLITICAL SUPPRESSION HEARINGS

  (Mr. SKAGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)
  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, political suppression hearings in the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight begin tomorrow and its 
first victim, if Members can believe it, is the YMCA.
  In today's New York Times, the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. McIntosh], 
the subcommittee chairman, makes it clear these hearings will be used 
to investigate groups who have opposed the Republican agenda.
  First, the majority attached the Istook political suppression 
amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Next they poisoned the 
conference on the Treasury Postal bill by insisting on it there. Now 
the cancer has spread to the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight.
  The Istook amendment restricting so-called political advocacy might 
have been written as satire by George Orwell, or, in all seriousness, 
by Joe McCarthy. It is an intrusive regulatory scheme designed to gag 
groups who wish to participate in the political life of America.
  If you have any doubt, Mr. Speaker, just look at this demand for the 
production of documents issued by the subcommittee chairman to 
witnesses at the hearing, requiring them to 

[[Page H 9567]]
produce exhaustive reports on their participation for 5 years in public 
affairs. All freedom-loving Americans should oppose this attack on the 
core principal of our democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the document for the Record.

         House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform 
           and Oversight,
                                                   Washington, DC.
     Memo to: Executive Director.
     From: Chairman David McIntosh.
     Date: September 20, 1995.
     Re: Oversight Questions Concerning Political Activity of 
         Federal Grantees.
       The Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural 
     Resources, and Regulatory Affairs will conduct a series of 
     oversight hearings regarding Federal grantees' use of Federal 
     funds for political activity. Thank you for agreeing to 
     testify at the first such hearing.
       Pursuant your conversation yesterday with Mildred Webber, 
     Staff Director for the Subcommittee, attached are several 
     questions and requests for documents that are relevant to our 
     oversight investigation. In addition, Subcommittee counsel 
     may contact you prior to the hearing to set up a meeting to 
     ask any follow up questions we may have concerning your 
     responses.
       Please respond to each of the attached questions in writing 
     by 5:00 p.m. Monday, September 25. Deliver your responses to 
     Room B377 Rayburn H.O.B. If you have any questions regarding 
     the scope or meaning of any of the questions, please contact 
     Jon Praed, counsel to the Subcommittee, at 202-225-4407.
       Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to your 
     testimony next week.


                         Requests for Documents

       1. Please produce complete copies of your organization's 
     publicity available Form 990 tax forms for the past two 
     years.
       2. Please produce a copy of the founding documents and/or 
     charter for your organization that sets forward its founding 
     or guiding principles.
       3. Please produce a copy of your organization's annual 
     report for the past two years.
       4. Please produce all independent audits conducted of your 
     organization in the past two years.


                      General Background Questions

       1. What is the tax status of your organization under 
     Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 501(c)?
       2. If your organization is a section 501(c)(3) tax exempt 
     organization, has it made the 501(h) election for purposes of 
     political advocacy? If not, why not?
       3. Identify each organization affiliated with your 
     organization (by stating the affiliate's name, tax-status, 
     tax identification number, place of incorporation, principal 
     business address, telephone and facsimile number). For each 
     affiliate that is a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt 
     organization, state whether it has made the 501(h) election 
     for purposes of political advocacy. If not, explain why not.
       4. Identify all transfers of monetary or non-monetary 
     assets from your organization to any affiliated 
     organizations, and from any affiliated organizations to your 
     organization for the past 12 months.
       5. How much federal taxes would your organization have owed 
     last year had your organization not been tax-exempt? In the 
     past 5 years? During the existence of your organization?
       6. In addition to the tax windfall enjoyed by your 
     organization, identify all other benefits your organization 
     gains from its tax-exempt status, including mail postage rate 
     discounts (by describing the benefits and estimating the 
     annual value of this benefit).
       7. What is your understanding of the justification for your 
     organization's tax-exempt status?
       8. Does your organization believe that the current IRC 
     limitations on the amount of non-Federal funds that can be 
     spent by tax-exempt organizations on political advocacy, 
     lobbying, and electioneering violate the First Amendment, or 
     are otherwise unconstitutional? If so, please identity the 
     limitations that are unconstitutional and explain the 
     basis for your organization's belief. Is it your 
     organization's belief that any of the limitations 
     contained in the attached legislation violate the First 
     Amendment or are otherwise unconstitutional? If so, please 
     identify the limitations, explain the basis for your 
     organization's belief, and distinguish this belief from 
     its belief on the constitutionality of the current IRC 
     limitations.
       9. Does your organization engage in any non-tax-exempt 
     business activities? If so, please describe those activities, 
     and estimate the amount of revenue earned from those 
     activities?
       10. In the past five years, has your organization endorsed 
     any products, goods or services? If so, identify the 
     endorsements, and state the amount of any compensation your 
     organization received for these endorsements.
       11. How would your organization spend an extra $1,000 this 
     year? $100,000? $1,000,000?
       12. For each of the past five years: state your 
     organization's expenditures on salaries (including wages, 
     bonuses, expense accounts and all other forms of 
     compensation); itemize the salaries (including wages, 
     bonuses, expense accounts and all other forms of 
     compensation) paid to your top five officers and directors 
     for the past five years.
       13. What percentage of your organization's annual revenues 
     are spent on fund raising?
       14. If your organization is a coalition or association of 
     organizations, please identify the member organizations by 
     stating their full names, tax status, principal business 
     address, telephone and facsimile numbers, and chief executive 
     officer, and please state the amount of annual dues or 
     membership fees paid to your organization by each member 
     organization.


                     Political Advocacy Information

       1. In the past five years, has your organization engaged in 
     political advocacy as defined in the attached legislation? If 
     so, please provide a brief description of the type of 
     political advocacy engaged in, and a good faith estimate of 
     the expenditures on each activity. Please answer for each 
     affiliated organization.
       2. Does your organization devote more than an insubstantial 
     part of its activities to attempting to influence legislation 
     by propaganda or otherwise, as that term is used in the 
     Internal Revenue Code? What safeguards has your organization 
     created, if any, to ensure that this limitation is not 
     exceeded?
       3. What percentage of your non-federal budget do you spend 
     on political advocacy (as defined in the attached 
     legislation), and what is the total amount?
       4. Does your organization directly or indirectly 
     participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or 
     distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf 
     of or in opposition to any candidate for public office? If 
     so, please describe your organization's activities.
       5. Does your organization disclose its political advocacy 
     activities to its donors and potential donors? If so, please 
     produce copies of all documents containing such disclosures. 
     If not, please explain why not. Also, please produce copies 
     of all promotional and fund-raising materials distributed to 
     potential donors.


                           grant information

       1. Has your organization received any federal grant funds 
     since 1990? If so, please itemize for each grant received: 
     the grant identification number; the amount or value of the 
     grant (including all administrative and overhead costs 
     awarded); a brief description of the purpose or purposes for 
     which the grant was awarded; the identity of each Federal, 
     State, local and tribal government entity awarding or 
     administering the grant, and program thereunder; the name and 
     tax identification number of each individual, entity or 
     organization to whom your organization made a grant. Please 
     answer this question with respect to each affiliate 
     organization.
       2. Does your organization receive donations, membership 
     fees or dues from any other organizations that receive 
     federal grant funds? If so, please identify the organizations 
     and the amount(s) each of them have transferred to your 
     organizations for the past two years. Were these 
     organizations' contributions made possible by their receipt 
     of federal grant funds? If not, how do you know? If so, 
     justify your organization's decision to accept these 
     contributions.
       3. How does your organization separate federal grant funds 
     from its non-federal funding? Is this record-keeping 
     available to the public for inspection? Will you please make 
     it available to the subcommittee for our review?


  questions regarding ability to comply with the proposed legislation

       1. Does your organization maintain accounting books and 
     records relating to its activities? Are these books and 
     records based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles 
     (GAAP)? If not, why are they not based on GAAP?
       2. Does your organization allocate, disburse, or contribute 
     any monetary or in-kind support to any individual, entity, or 
     organization whose expenditures for political advocacy in any 
     of the past five years exceeded 15 percent of its total 
     expenditures for that year? 25%? 50%? 75%? 95%? For each of 
     these thresholds, please identify each individual, entity or 
     organization receiving the support, and the amount of support 
     provided. If you are unable to answer this question for any 
     of these thresholds, please explain why you are unable to 
     answer.
       3. Does your organization make available the results of 
     nonpartisan analysis, study, research, or debate? If so, 
     please identify the types of work made available by your 
     organization in the past year.
       4. Does your organization provide technical advice or 
     assistance to a governmental body or to a committee or other 
     subdivision thereof in response to a written request by such 
     body or subdivision? If so, please identify the type of 
     technical advice or assistance provided and the governmental 
     body receiving it.

                          ____________________