A Report from the U.N. and Lobbying Update

This morning, I am in New York with a team of our senior lawyers from the United States and from our European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) offices in Strasbourg, France.  The ECLJ office has applied for non-governmental organization consultive status with the United Nations.  This would give our members a voice in U.N. policy on a wide variety of issues, including the defense of life, bioethics, terrorism and definitions of the family.  We will be participating in a U.N. hearing this morning which should last for the rest of this week. 

At the same time, our office in Washington, DC is engaged in the lobbying reform legislation battle.  Reports are that either late today or early tomorrow, members of the House will introduce their lobbying reform legislation.  The plan is for Congressman Meehan to introduce a grassroots prohibition.  The current proposal on the grassroots prohibition is actually broader than the bill that we defeated in the United States Senate.  The ramifications of this legislation are staggering.

Under the bill, pastors, church leaders, advocacy organizations and even individuals could be compelled to register as lobbyists.  Failure to comply with this bill could result in fines in excess of $50,000.  Our legal research team in Virginia is already preparing legal challenges to the legislation.  At the same time, our Government Affairs staff in Washington is working with a variety of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, who opposed this legislation as well.  This dual approach of having our Government Affairs team and our litigation group work on this initiative is critical.

We anticipate that the Floor debate will take place in the House this week, with a vote possibly as early as Friday.  If you would like to register your opposition to this lobby reform legislation, please join our Petition of Protest by clicking here.  We have heard from thousands of people already who are opposed to this legislation; and were optimistic that as we were successful in defeating this proposal in the Senate, we can do the same in the House of Representatives.  We will keep you posted.