This is a congressional alert-update from the Federal Legislative Office of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), sent Wednesday, July 11, at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

On Thursday, July 12, the U.S. House of Representatives will debate the Shays-Meehan "campaign finance reform" bill. In past letters to the House and grassroots alerts, NRLC has urged opposition to the Shays-Meehan bill. In the letter below, sent to House members on July 11, NRLC urges the lawmakers to support an alternative bill known as the "Ney-Wynn substitute amendment," and announces NRLC's intent to "score" the roll call on the Ney-Wynn substitute -- that is, to include the roll call in NRLC's scorecard of key congressional votes for 2001. Please immediately urge all House members, including those who are already committed to vote against the Shays-Meehan bill, to vote YES on the Ney-Wynn substitute amendment. The text of the new NRLC letter follows.

Dear Member of Congress:

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has urged you to vote against the Shays-Meehan bill in a number of past communications (most recently our letter of July 9), on the basis of multiple provisions that would greatly restrict both our freedom of speech to communicate with the public, and our right of association to work with like-minded members of Congress on issues of concern to our members.

We have now reviewed the proposed revisions that Reps. Shays and Meehan filed with the Rules Committee in the form of a Manager's Amendment, which we understand may be considered by the House as a series of separate amendments. Even if the revisions proposed by Reps. Shays and Meehan were adopted in total, it would correct none of the objectionable provisions described in NRLC's previous communications.

In view of the failure of the authors of the Shays-Meehan bill to correct the most objectionable provisions of their bill, NRLC strongly urges you to vote for the Ney-Wynn substitute amendment.

Moreover, because adoption of the Ney-Wynn substitute would erase the Shays-Meehan bill and thereby nullify the grave threat that the Shays-Meehan bill poses to the lobbying and advocacy efforts of NRLC and NRLC's affiliates, NRLC intends to include the vote on adoption of the Ney-Wynn substitute amendment in the NRLC scorecard of key roll call votes for 2001.

If the Ney-Wynn substitute fails, NRLC will also score the roll call on final passage of the Shays-Meehan bill, as stated in previous letters. If, however, the Ney-Wynn substitute amendment is adopted, NRLC will maintain a neutral posture on the final passage of the bill.

Contrary to some misrepresentations being circulated by advocates of the Shays-Meehan bill, the new revisions proposed by the authors make only cosmetic changes to the bill's pernicious provisions dealing with "coordination" between members of Congress and citizen groups such as NRLC. The proposed Shays-Meehan language repudiates the current case law on "coordination," and directs the FEC to issue regulations which "shall not require agreement or formal collaboration to establish coordination." Under this language, an advocacy group and a member of Congress could be deemed to have engaged in illegal "coordinated" activity, for example, if the group distributed printed literature publicizing the results of a candidate questionnaire or "pledge" on one or more issues. In contrast, the Ney-Wynn substitute amendment does not disturb current law on "coordination."

In addition, the authors of the Shays-Meehan bill have proposed no changes to the bill's extensive restrictions on constitutionally protected issue advocacy (Sections 201, 203, and 204). They would retain the ban on a citizen group (other than a federal PAC) sponsoring TV or radio ads that mention a "candidate" (including any member of Congress) for 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election. Nor have they proposed any modification of the "Specter Amendment" language in Section 201, which applies to any broadcast ad -- at any time of any year -- that "promotes," "supports," "attacks," or "opposes" a "candidate," and that is deemed to be "suggestive" of a vote for or against a "candidate."

The Ney-Wynn substitute contains reporting requirements for issue advocacy that we believe are inconsistent with First Amendment case law. However, the Ney-Wynn substitute does not contain the draconian prohibitions on the freedoms of speech and association of citizens' groups, such as NRLC and NRLC affiliates, that are contained in the Shays-Meehan bill.

Thank you for your consideration of NRLC's position on this legislation.

Sincerely,

David N. O'Steen, Ph.D.
Executive Director

Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
(202) 626-8820
Legfederal@aol.com
www.nrlc.org

VSHL is the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.