Congress moves in mysterious ways.

Last week we asked you to write your House representative urging him or her to vote for the Online Freedom of Speech Act. This bill would exempt citizens using the Internet from campaign finances regulations in the same way that the mainstream media is now exempted. We mentioned at that time our surprise that this bill was coming up for a vote so quickly. After all, it only had 9 sponsors and hadn't been voted out of committee.

Apparently there was no real opposition to this bill in committee, so it was decided to bring it to a quick vote on the floor under a special procedure. Unfortunately, this particular procedure is also one that limits debate and prohibits amendment, and because of this, measures brought to the floor in this way must pass with 2/3rds of the vote of those present, rather than a simple majority.

We got the simple majority, but not the 2/3rds. Here's the vote:

             Yeas    Nays    PRES    NV

Republican   179      38             13

Democratic    46     143             13

Independent            1                

TOTALS  	225     182             26

So where do we go from here? Word has it that the bill will now be brought to the floor again under the usual procedure requiring only a simple majority to pass.

So we still have an excellent chance to win this one. Let's do our part. Please send a message to Congress today asking them to pass this bill. To send your message click here.

It is urgent that this be done now, while the recent vote is fresh in their memory, so that they know they are being watched, that you care, and that this issue will not be forgotten.

But there is one concern. Yes, we can win, but the bill will be subject to amendment under a normal floor vote. Reps. Shays and Meehan are trying hard to gut this bill. At present, the Online Freedom of Speech Act is only one sentence long (an easy bill to "read"). So, in your message, consider asking your Representative to oppose amendments and pass the bill as is.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.