[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 26, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1194-S1195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRESENTATION BY SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, S. Res. 460 concerns a civil action filed in 
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The National 
Association of Manufacturers is challenging the constitutionality of 
section 207 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, 
which amended the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to strengthen the 
reporting requirements for coalitions and associations that engage in 
lobbying activities.
  As amended, the law mandates that registrants disclose the members of 
their organization that contribute more than $5,000 in a quarterly 
period to the lobbying activities of the organization and ``actively 
participate in the planning, supervision, or control of such 
activities.'' Under prior law, disclosure was required of those members 
who contributed at least $10,000 for lobbying semiannually but only if 
those members ``in whole or in major part'' planned, supervised, or 
controlled such lobbying activities.
  The plaintiff National Association of Manufacturers alleges that its 
members face sustained injury to their first amendment rights, 
including their right to anonymous policy speech, and seeks to prevent 
the enhanced disclosure requirements from taking effect

[[Page S1195]]

on the initial quarterly period filing date, April 21, 2008.
  NAM named as defendants the U.S. attorney for the District of 
Columbia, the Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House. The 
Secretary and the Clerk are responsible for providing guidance and 
assistance on lobbying disclosure requirements, receiving lobbying 
registration and report filings, reviewing, inquiring, and verifying 
the accuracy of the filings without investigating, notifying lobbyists 
that appear not to be in compliance with the law, and notifying the 
U.S. attorney of lobbyist who have been so notified and have failed to 
submit an appropriate response. The U.S. attorney has the duty to 
enforce the disclosure requirements through civil, and, under the new 
law, criminal, actions.
  This resolution authorizes the Senate legal counsel to represent the 
Secretary of the Senate to defend the constitutionality of the lobbying 
disclosure amendment in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act 
and to seek dismissal of the action, in conjunction with counsel for 
the House of Representatives and the Department of Justice.
  Senate counsel will present to the court the bases for the Congress's 
judgment, after more than a dozen years of experience under the 
Lobbying Disclosure Act, that enhanced reporting requirements are 
necessary to inform Congress and the public of the identity of those 
organizations actively participating in lobbying the Federal 
Government. As Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote, ``Sunlight is 
said to be the best of disinfectants.''
  The lobbying amendments enacted last year were an important part of 
the Congress's efforts to restore public confidence through integrity 
and openness in Government and lobbying activities. Disclosure of the 
identities of organizations that actively participate in supervising or 
planning lobbying campaigns will yield a sizable public benefit while 
imposing a modest burden on the exercise of the right of organizations 
such as the National Association of Manufacturers freely to associate 
to petition the Government in furtherance of their legislative agenda.

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