Tell Senator Ensign to drop his objection to bill S223

According to OpentheGovernment.org:

S.223, "The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act," has bipartisan
support from 40 co-sponsors, but John Ensign (R-NV) continues to block passage
with a hold. Watch an informational video from the Sunlight Foundation
about efforts to require Senators to file campaign finance contribution reports
electronically, then call Sen. Ensign's office to tell him to drop his objection
to the bill: (202) 224-6244.

If you agree, please call Sen. Enign's office and leave your message.

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Tell your Senators to vote YES on improved government transparency

.gov Watch blog reports a new government transparency bill: S2321, titled the "E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007". It updates an earlier Act, and makes government wesites easier to search on search engines like Google. If you agree, please contact both of your U.S. Senators and tell them to vote YES on the bill.

.gov Watch says the following about this improvement in government searchability on the web:

Government information is about to become easier to find. By some estimates, 50% of all Government web pages on the Internet are invisible to search engines. By searching on Google, Yahoo, or MSN you are missing half of what your Government is posting online. Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs sent the E-Gov Reauthorization Act to the Floor. Besides renewing the original E-Gov Act for 5 years, it requires that "publicly available online Federal Government information and services are made more accessible to external search capabilities".

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Tell your Senators to vote YES for two Farm Bill amendments

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste has an urgent action request. The Senate will soon vote on the 2007 Farm Bill. Tell your Senators to put the interests of taxpayers and consumers first by voting in favor of amendments that would bring about true reform of Depression-era agricultural policies! Below is their request details; if you agree, please take action at this website or send a message on your own:

Dear _,
I urge you as strongly as possible to tell your Senators to support TRUE REFORM in the 2007 Farm Bill. The Senate will begin debating the Farm Bill tomorrow, so it is urgent that you send a message to your Senators right away!
The federal government’s Depression-era web of agricultural subsidies, price and supply controls, and import restrictions long ago outlived their justification. Rather than assisting small family farms, federal agricultural policies overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest farmers and mega-agribusinesses -- to the detriment of those farmers most in need. Today, 60 percent of farms receive either no subsidies or less than $2,000 annually, while the top 10 percent of farm subsidy recipients collected 72 percent of total payments in 2003.
What’s more, this handout to well-heeled, politically influential agribusiness is financed on the backs of American taxpayers and consumers like YOU!
At a time when agricultural income is at record highs and commodity prices are soaring, taxpayers have been paying an average of $20 billion annually for the most expensive farm subsidy payments in history. Sugar price supports alone cost us all $1.9 billion each year in higher prices at the grocery counter, not only for sugar, but also for sugar-containing products, like cereal, baked goods, and candy.
The Farm Bill passed by the House of Representatives in July not only failed to reform existing agricultural policies, it increased subsidy payments. The Senate Agriculture Committee made this bad bill even worse by raising taxes on U.S. businesses in order to pay for yet another disaster assistance program for farmers.
As the full Senate takes up the 2007 Farm Bill, Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will offer an amendment to replace existing farm subsidies with an insurance program that would enable farmers to mitigate weather and market risks. This would provide a real safety net for farmers, instead of doling out excessive payments to the wealthiest farmers whether they need them or not.
Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) will also offer an amendment to cap annual subsidy payments at $250,000 per farmer and close the loopholes that allow mega-farms to get unlimited payments by creating a complex web of multiple entities. Right now, some farmers receive taxpayer-provided subsidies in excess of $1 million annually!
Please tell you Senators to support taxpayers and consumers and bring TRUE REFORM to federal farm policy by voting in favor of the Lugar-Lautenberg and Grassley-Dorgan amendments!
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Schatz, President
***The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the nation's largest taxpayer watchdog organization with more than one million members and supporters nationwide.

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Agencys' Inspector General openness to the public now being legislated

There is often tension between government agencies and their Inspector General watchdogs who can be the bearer of bad news about those agencies. POGO (Project on Government Oversight) has been researching the effectiveness and independence of the IG’s. They’ve already found other instances where IGs have had their reports unnecessarily redacted by agencies or where the agency has simply refused to post an IG’s reports on the web.

Inspector General legislation THAT passed by a vote of 404-11 in the House, despite a Presidential veto threat, would require that all IG reports be posted on the web within three days. The Senate will likely take up corresponding legislation in the coming days.

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CAGW Names U.S. Senator Shelby Porker of the Month

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Porker of the Month for October 2007 for an $11 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) earmark for his alma mater.

Laurels of garland should adorn the esteemed Senators navel for this distinguishable recognition; salute!

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Tell your Senators to vote YES on an internet tax ban

Citizens Against Government Waste is running a taxpayer alert for a proposed ban on internet taxes. Currently, there are no "internet taxes" by any level of government, such as email tax or internet retail sales tax. Here's what CAGW says; if you agree, please send your letter to both of your U.S. Senators from this webpage.

Dear _,
In less than 10 days, you and I could be paying a tax for sending e-mails. That’s right. The existing moratorium on Internet taxes expires on November 1, 2007, and unless Congress acts, the federal, state, and local governments will be free to tax any aspect of using the Internet -- from going online, to sending and receiving e-mails, to buying and selling goods and services.
I urge you, before you do anything else today, tell your Senators to pass a permanent ban on Internet taxes! The House last week passed a four-year extension of the Internet tax moratorium, and the Senate is scheduled to take up legislation this week. While extending the moratorium is better than letting it lapse, it leaves the door open for eventual taxation and creates a climate of uncertainty for individuals and businesses that rely on the Internet. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are pushing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow a vote on making the Internet tax ban permanent. The Senate needs to hear that Americans like you support a permanent ban! The Internet has become a vital part of our economy and keeping its use tax-free is essential for economic growth. Enacting a permanent ban will provide much-needed consumer and business confidence. It will also keep governments at all levels from tapping into a new pot of money that they can squander on more wasteful spending programs. Time truly is of the essence. Please tell your Senators to support Sens. McCain, Sununu, and Wyden in their drive to make the Internet tax ban permanent!
Sincerely, Thomas A. Schatz, President

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Call U.S. Senators Ensign and McConnell to remove bill amendment

The Sunshine Foundation is asking the netroots reform community to call U.S. Senators Ensign and McConnell and have them remove an unrelated amendment to the Senate electronic filing bill. Here's their story:

Ensign Refuses to Yield, Admits Working With McConnell
Sen. John Ensign continues to transparently block the electronic filing bill by refusing to back down from a ridiculous amendment requiring outside groups filing ethics complaints to reveal their funding sources. In stating his refusal to yield Ensign also admitted that he is working with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the author of this absurd amendment, to block passage of the electronic filing bill. The Hill reports, "Ensign added that he consulted with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) before deciding on his strategy, deeming the push for the amendment 'something we did together … we discussed it. I felt it was a good idea for me to do it.'" (Emphasis added.) McConnell has stated previously, including in the last few days, that he supports the electronic filing bill. It appears that he is being far less than honest.
Ensign and McConnell should do the senatorial thing and step out of the way as Sen. Bob Bennett did when he tried to offer a poison pill amendment. Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein has offered Ensign a fair hearing in her committee on his amendment in exchange for dropping his objection to electronic filing. It's time for Ensign and McConnell to stop blocking transparency legislation.
In regards to the Ensign/McConnell amendment itself there are serious legal questions that appear to make it and illegal attempt to infringe on certain groups' privacy. Adam Bonin summarized the legal issues yesterday in a post at Daily Kos:
What can we say about this proposal? Of course it's not germane to this innocuous, bipartisan legislation, but what's more is that it's pretty blatantly unconstitutional. In a series of cases from the civil rights era including NAACP v Alabama and Bates v. City of Little Rock, the Supreme Court has made clear that such compelled disclosure – or "outing" – of supporters of a political organization is anathema to democracy, as it subjects members to potential harassment or retaliation and infringes on their constitutional rights of association, and must be supported by a compelling state interest.
Tell Ensign and McConnell to stop blocking transparency.
Sen. John Ensign: (202) 224-6244
Sen. Mitch McConnell: (202) 224-2541
Paul Blumenthal's blog Written by Paul Blumenthal on September 28, 2007 - 11:17am.

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Ask your U.S. Senators to vote YES on campaign finance electronic filing

U.S. Senator Ensign disclosed Monday night that he was the one who blocked legislation requiring senatorial candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically. The bill is alive again, and may be brought to the floor any time now.

This bill is a common sense update of campaign finance reporting; the U.S. House of Representatives candidates are already required to do this.

Send a message to your two senators asking them to say YES to campaign finance report electronic filing. As of today, there are already 40 bill co-sponsors.

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