Action Alerts
Bills to provide free online public access to taxpayer-funded CRS Reports have been introduced in the House (H.R. 3762) and the Senate (S. Res. 118). The House bill is currently pending before the Committee on House Administration; the Senate bill is awaiting action by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. You can help move these bills through Congress; write your representatives to ask that they support H.R. 3762 and S.Res. 118 today.
When S. 482, the Electronic Disclosure Parity Act, is brought to the floor, Senator Pat Roberts may attempt to attach an amendment to the bill that would violate the privacy of donors to nonprofit organizations by forcing their names to be made public any time the nonprofit decided to file an ethics complaint against a sitting senator.
S. 482 would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically. The Senate still allows candidates to file paper reports with the Secretary of the Senate. After receiving the reports, the Secretary of the Senate delivers the reports in paper to the FEC, who then must input them into their computer databases to be accessed by the public online. As a result of the delay, donors can bundle contributions in the final, critical weeks of a campaign - providing the funds necessary for last minute negative attack ads or push polls - with absolute anonymity until after the election.
The Roberts amendment would require that the names of donors to a nonprofit organization be made public any time the nonprofit decided to file an ethics complaint against a sitting senator. This amendment would force organizations to choose between protecting their donors' constitutional rights and filing an ethics complaint; asking the Ethics Committee to investigate whether a senator violated Senate rules would require revealing private contributions to the organization. The amendment would eradicate the constitutionally-protected right of free association, including
the right to make private contributions to nonprofit organizations.
Many will be left with no choice but to decide against filing the complaint. Fewer ethics complaints means
questionable behavior by senators will go undetected This amendment is about silencing and intimidating nonprofit organizations, not transparency.
Ask your Senator to cosponsor S. 482, a bill to require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically.
The Senate still allows candidates to file paper reports with the Secretary of the Senate. After receiving the reports, the Secretary of the Senate delivers the reports in paper to the FEC, who then must input them into their computer databases to be accessed by the public online. As a result of the delay, donors can bundle contributions in the final, critical weeks of a campaign - providing the funds necessary for last minute negative attack ads or push polls - with absolute anonymity until well after an election has taken place.