UNITED STATES-NGOS: Rightwing Republicans launch attack on NGOs

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 1995 (IPS) - Having vented their fury on the federal government, right-wing Republicans in the U.S. Congress now have a new target in their sights: non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Led by an Oklahoma lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Ernest Istook, Republicans are trying to enact legislation that would prevent or severely limit “political advocacy” by non- profit NGOs which receive funding from the federal government.

Political advocacy is defined by the so-called ‘Istook Amendment’ as “carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation or agency action.” It includes lawsuits, financial or volunteer support, research, endorsements, and publicity of any kind.

Foes, who have dubbed the bill the “Silence America Amendment,” have just begun to mobilise their constituencies, which include churches, social service groups, youth organisations, and relief agencies operating abroad which receive federal funds. The administration of President Bill Clinton has said he will veto the measure if it comes to his desk.

But with House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the House Republican leadership in full support, most analysts expect a major battle over the coming days and weeks.

At stake is some 240 billion dollars in grants — of which about 75 percent goes to health services — provided each year by the federal government to groups ranging from the YMCA to the American Red Cross to Catholic Relief Services to local housing and social service groups. On average, these NGOs rely on Washington for about a third of their budgets.

As the federal government has cut back its social programmes, these NGOs have become increasingly important in making up the gap. Republicans say they do not object to the delivery of services, only to political advocacy on behalf of those who receive the services.

The amendment is a bi-product of work by some right-wing figures, associated primarily with the Heritage Foundation here, to “de-fund the left” in the United States. They allege that left-wing groups have worked with “big government” to create a patronage system that furthers the interests of both.

The right-wing effort has been backed by the powerful ‘Christian Coalition,’ the Heritage Foundation, and various industry groups.

Rep. David McIntosh of Indiana launched hearings on the Istook Amendment last month. He summoned leaders of groups opposed to Republican cuts in federal medicare and welfare to testify. “It is outrageous that our tax dollars are being used to subsidise this lobbying and political advocacy,” he said.

He then called on the witnesses to answer detailed questions about their financial records, fund-raising activities, political activities, and membership.

One major coalition, the 800-member Independent Sector, said the hearings were designed to quiet opposition to Republican proposals.

“How do you chill legitimate opposition to proposed legislation?” it asked. “On Capitol Hill you target opposition leaders, conduct an ‘investigation’ into their poltical activities, funding and members, and make intrusive requests for largely irrelevant information.”

The Istook Amendment is now attached to the House’s version of a bill that funds the White House and the Treasury Department for 1996. The Senate version includes a provision, sponsored by Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, which bans “political advocacy” for groups with annual budgets of at least 10 million dollars.

A House-Senate conference committee was supposed to work out a compromise this week. But negotiationspbetween the two broke down Wednesday after Istook presented a new version of his amendment deemed unacceptable by the Senate representatives. The result is that both houses will now vote on Istook’s latest version.

That version provides that non-profit groups receiving more than one-third of their total funding from government grants could not spend more than 100,000 dollars on political advocacy. And any group engaging in advocacy with annual revenues of more than three million dollars would be banned from receiving federal money.

The amended version would also exempt groups that spend less than 25,000 dollars on advocacy but imposes stringent reporting requirements on all such organisations.

In fact, existing laws already limit lobbying activities by non- profit NGOs. They are prohibited from using government funds for lobbying and can use no more than 20 percent of their privately raised income for that purpose. Republicans have not yet uncovered any abuse of these regulations.

Foes of the legislation cite this and several other reasons in their campaign to stop the Republican drive. For one, they say, the Republicans are using double standards. The country’s biggest companies, for example, receive billions of dollars in federal contracts and subsidies each year, but their lobbying activities are unrestricted.

The groups also reject the notion that service delivery and advocacy can or should be separated.

“Organisations should not be forced to choose between being service providers and advocates for those whom they serve. Both roles are essential,” says Carol Capps, who works at Church World Service/Lutheran World Relief here.

“Many non-profit groups work directly with local communities in the U.S. and abroad and are therefore well placed — sometimes uniquely so — to know what the concerns and needs of those communities are,” she adds.

To render them unable to work with the federal and local governments would cut off vital link in communication between the government and the people it serves.

But most of all, the Istook amendment is seen as a way of silencing the poor and the elderly in a period of unprecedented cuts in social and welfare spending.

“They want to gut the ability of anyone who says government can help provide an answer,” Robert Bothwell, director of the National Committee for Responsibl Philanthropy, told the Washington Post last month. “It will make their budget-cutting that much easier.”

UNITED STATES-NGOS: Rightwing Republicans launch attack on NGOs

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 1995 (IPS) - Having vented their fury on the federal government, right-wing Republicans in the U.S. Congress now have a new target in their sights: non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
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