H.R. 4646: Debt Free America Act

111th Congress: 2009-2010

To establish a fee on transactions which would eliminate the national debt and replace the income tax on individuals.

 Congressional Research Service Summary

The following summary was written by the Congressional Research Service, a well-respected nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress. Gov Track did not write and has no control over these summaries.
2/23/2010--Introduced.

Debt Free America Act - States as purposes of this Act the raising of sufficient revenue from a fee on transactions to eliminate the national debt within seven years and the phasing out of the individual income tax. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a 1% fee, offset by a corresponding nonrefundable income tax credit, on transactions that use a payment instrument, including any check, cash, credit card, transfer of stock, bonds, or other financial instrument. Defines "transaction" to include retail and wholesale sales, purchases of intermediate goods, and financial and intangible transactions. Establishes in the legislative branch the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action to review the fiscal imbalance of the federal government and make recommendations to improve such imbalance. Provides for expedited consideration by Congress of Task Force recommendations. Repeals after 2017 the individual income tax, refundable and nonrefundable personal tax credits, and the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on individuals. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) prioritize the repayment of the national debt to protect the fiscal stability of the United States; and (2) study and report to Congress on the implementation of this Act.

ON JANUARY 1ST 2012, THE GOVERNMENT IS REQUIRING EVERYONE TO HAVE DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR SS CHECKS. 
WONDER WHY?

1% tax on all bank transactions HR4646

Be sure to scroll down to read entire explanation

Do you receive a retirement check from soc sec or a pension fund and have it direct deposit?? Well guess what....looks as if Obama wants to tax it 1% !!! *just one more nail in the coffin me thinks.....
All of you old coots, and old coots to be had better read this. This Obama gang is diabolical. Is your Soc. Sec. check on direct deposit?
WAKE UP AMERICA

1% tax on all bank transactions HR4646

Watch for this AFTER November elections; remember this BEFORE you VOTE in case you think Obama's looking out for your best interest.

1% tax on all bank transactions HR 4646

This government just cannot think of enough ways to hurt the American people! I sure hope this dies!!!!!

FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

1% tax on all bank transactions HR 4646 - ANOTHER NEW OBAMA TAX SLIPPED IN WHILE WE WERE ASLEEP. Checked this on snopes, it's true! Check out HR 4646.

President Obama's finance team is recommending a one percent (1%) transaction fee (TAX). Obama's plan is to sneak it in after the November elections to keep it under the radar.

This is a 1% tax on all transactions at any financial institution - banks,
credit unions, savings and loans, etc. Any deposit you make, or even a transfer within your account, will have a 1% tax charged. ~If your paycheck or your social security or whatever is direct deposit, it will get a 1% tax charged for the transaction. ~If your paycheck is $1000, then you will pay Obama $10 just for the privilege of depositing your paycheck in your bank. Even if you hand carry your paycheck or any check into your bank for a deposit, 1% tax will be charged. ~You receive a $5,000 stock dividend from your broker, Obama takes $50 just to allow you to deposit that check in the bank.. ~If you take $1,000 cash to deposit at your bank, 1% tax will be charged.

Mind you, this is from the man who promised that, if you make under $250,000 per year, you will not see one penny of new tax. Keep your eyes and ears open, you will be amazed at what you learn about this guy's under-the-table moves to increase the number of ways you are taxed.


~Oh, and by the way, if you receive a refund from the IRS next year and you have it direct deposited or you walk in to deposit that check, you guessed it. You will pay a 1% charge of that money just for putting it in your bank. Remember, any money, cash, check or whatever, no matter where it came from, you will pay a 1% fee if you put it in the bank.

Some will say, oh well, it's just 1%. Are you kidding me? It's a 1% tax increase across the board. Remember, once the tax is there, they can also raise it at will. And if anyone protests, they will just say, "oh,that's not really a tax, it's a user fee"! Think this is no big deal? Go back and look at the transactions you made from last year's banking statements. Then add the total of all those transactions and deduct 1%. Still think it's no big deal?
 

The New Internet Worm, The United States Government-S. 778-S. 773

Count yourself fortunate to be reading these words. If certain members of Congress and President Obama have their way, there is a good chance that you will find yourself hitting that frustrating “404 Page not found” error more often than not. That is, if your internet connection even works.

Two bills have just been introduced in the Senate:

S. 778: A bill to establish, within the Executive Office of the President, the Office of National Cybersecurity Advisor.

Sponsor: Senator John Rockefeller [D, WV]
Co-Sponsors:
Sen. Bill Nelson [D, FL]
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME]

Apr 01, 2009: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

S.773: A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Senator John Rockefeller [D, WV]
Co-Sponsors:
Sen. Bill Nelson [D, FL]
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME]

Introduced on Apr 01, 2009. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Here we go again. Pater Obama and the Family think that we need more protection. Their fears aren’t entirely unfounded, though I find it ironic that, even though it’s not new news, it’s all over the media that the footprints of Chinese and Russian spies have been found inside the networks that control the country’s power systems, indications that someone is wondering if they can wreak havoc by cutting off electricity, or water, or other critical communications between the regional groups that control them. It’s already happened in other countries and was discussed here in the United States – and certain measures implemented – after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But as in most businesses (and probably even the case with the computer by which you read these words), computer security is at the bottom of the to-do list. The power industry’s own standards-setting organization, the North American Electric Reliability Corp (overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is only now getting serious about the far-reaching impact of malicious intrusions to the power grids’ networks. And since we’ve all read about the compromises of personal information brought about by thoughtless financial employees, this late-coming assessment from those who oversee we have power and water oughtta scare the bejesus out of you.

So you’re thinking it’s a good thing that we, the people, start to take this “security stuff” more seriously, right? I have two words for you: fear factor. Unfortunately, if you take the time to read S.773 in its entirety, what you will find is the government reproducing what, for all intents and purposes, already exists in the private sector. Security standards. Educational programs. Accrediting organizations.

But when you live in the Obamanation, it’s “better” if it’s run by the government. The same government that giveth the bonuses and then taketh them away, all the while claiming they never gaveth them out in the first place. The same government that will, through this nefarious legislation, allow the President to determine what is considered “critical infrastructure information systems and networks” and shut them down, should he deem it necessary. This includes state, local, and nongovernmental information systems and networks. Yes, nongovernmental – private – information systems and networks.

And here’s a fun one – the President “shall notify the Congress within 48 hours after providing a cyber-related certification of legality to a United States person.” Okey-dokey….

How about funding a study of “the feasibility of an identity management and authentication program, with the appropriate civil liberties and privacy protections, for government and critical infrastructure information systems and networks”?

And let’s not forget the indoctrination part, “a national cybersecurity awareness campaign”, using “public and private sector means of providing information to the public, including public service announcements”. Like we need more government-sponsored advertising? How about government-sponsored competitions, complete with prize money given to students or academic or research institutions? In lip-service to “public-private partnership”, some of the money will come from the private sector since the governing organizations will be non-profits that receive government funding. And more non-profit, government-supported centers will focus on the cybersecurity of small and medium-sized businesses. (See the snake eating its own tail?)

Of course, we must attend to the children. This bill will use a “a Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service program ” to:

• provide a procedure for identifying promising K-12 students for participation in summer work and internship programs that would lead to certification of Federal information technology workforce standards and possible future employment; and
• examine and develop, if appropriate, programs to promote computer security awareness in secondary and high school classrooms.

All of which is intended to get them into the government-sponsored “Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service program” (the bill actually states there will be preference given to undergraduate or graduate program applicants who participated in the government-sponsored competitions). Can you smell the socialistic bent of this? Just like the professional vs. blue collar educational tracks in countries like Germany, where the government determines your career for you. How will you tell your child they can’t go to school to study art because they are too good at math or playing video games?

Like so many good intentions, this is bad and it’s scary.

Does the United States need to step up its computer security? You bet. Do we need the government to define computer security and K-PhD train individuals to design and implement it? No. This is yet another area where the private sector and the rewards system of the free market will always to a better job than a bureaucracy. The dot-com boom and bust was driven by ingenuity and smarts; computers and the internet is a 20th century phenomenon that government sponsorship couldn’t have created in ten times the number of years. Success in any area requires innovation and risk-taking, they are the key components of the many small, private business ventures birthed from ideas of bright people who had the freedom to pursue their dreams that allow you to read my thoughts right here, right now.

This country has more important things to do than spend millions and millions of dollars recreating what we already know needs to be done just to disguise one more government takeover of the private sector. It is yet another audacious idea whose time must not come.

Senate Bill S-510 Makes it illegal to Grow, Share, Trade or Sell Homegrown Food

S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010,  may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US.  It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money.

“If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.  It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.”  ~Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower

It is similar to what India faced with imposition of the salt tax during British rule, only S 510 extends control over all food in the US, violating the fundamental human right to food.

Monsanto says it has no interest in the bill and would not benefit from it, but Monsanto’s Michael Taylor who gave us rBGH and unregulated genetically modified (GM) organisms, appears to have designed it and is waiting as an appointed Food Czar to the FDA (a position unapproved by Congress) to administer the agency it would create — without judicial review — if it passes.  S 510 would give Monsanto unlimited power over all US seed, food supplements, food and farming.

History

In the 1990s, Bill Clinton introduced HACCP (Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Points) purportedly to deal with contamination in the meat industry.  Clinton’s HACCP delighted the offending corporate (World Trade Organization“WTO”) meat packers since it allowed them to inspect themselves, eliminated thousands of local food processors (with no history of contamination), and centralized meat into their control.  Monsanto promoted HACCP.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton, urged a powerful centralized food safety agency as part of her campaign for president.  Her advisor was Mark Penn, CEO of Burson Marsteller*, a giant PR firm representing Monsanto.  Clinton lost, but Clinton friends such as Rosa DeLauro, whose husband’s firm lists Monsanto as a progressive client and globalization as an area of expertise, introduced early versions of S 510.

S 510 fails on moral, social, economic, political, constitutional, and human survival grounds.

1.  It puts all US food and all US farms under Homeland Security and theDepartment of Defense, in the event of contamination or an ill-defined emergency.  It resembles the Kissinger Plan.

2.  It would end US sovereignty over its own food supply by insisting oncompliance with the WTO, thus threatening national security.  It would end the Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1994, which put US sovereignty and US law under perfect protection.  Instead, S 510 says:

COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization or any other treaty or international agreement to which the United States is a party.

3.  It would allow the government, under Maritime Law, to define the introduction of any food into commerce (even direct sales between individuals) as smuggling into “the United States.” Since under that law, the US is a corporate entity and not a location, “entry of food into the US” covers food produced anywhere within the land mass of this country and “entering into” it by virtue of being produced.

4.  It imposes Codex Alimentarius on the US, a global system of control over food. It allows the United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the WTO to take control of every food on earth and remove access to natural food supplements.  Its bizarre history and its expected impact in limiting access to adequate nutrition (while mandating GM food, GM animals, pesticides, hormones, irradiation of food, etc.) threatens all safe and organic food and health itself, since the world knows now it needs vitamins to survive, not just to treat illnesses.

5.  It would remove the right to clean, store and thus own seed in the US, putting control of seeds in the hands of Monsanto and other multinationals, threatening US security. See Seeds – How to criminalize them, for more details.

6.  It includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals. The UN is participating through the WHO, FAO, WTO, and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in allowing mass slaughter of even heritage breeds of animals and without proof of disease.  Biodiversity in farm animals is being wiped out to substitutegenetically engineered animals on which corporations hold patents.  Animal diseases can be falsely declared.  S 510 includes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite its corrupt involvement in the H1N1 scandal, which is now said to have been concocted by the corporations.

7.  It extends a failed and destructive HACCP to all food, thus threatening to do to all local food production and farming what HACCP did to meat production – put it in corporate hands and worsen food safety.

8.  It deconstructs what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer.  The chance to rebuild the economy based on farming, ranching, gardens, food production, natural health, and all the jobs, tools and connected occupations would be eliminated.

9.  It would allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil-based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe.  The five items listed — the Five Pillars of Food Safety — are precisely the items in the food supply which are the primary source of its danger.

10. It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control.The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied.  It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review. It is (similar to C-6 in Canada) the end of Rule of Law in the US.

For further information, watch these videos:

Food Laws – Forcing people to globalize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia-P4rL2IWc

State Imposed Violence … to snatch resources of ordinary people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onw_PkVvpts&feature=related

Corporate Rule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PwqUQ_HIlg&feature=related

Reclaiming Economies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXoJHG-er7A&feature=related

Oak snake image at Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park, Florida
http://snipurl.com/vrg6p

Tea Party Nation Calls For Opposition To HR 5175, The Disclose Act

A call to action from Tea Party Nation:

In January, the Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case. This case was a huge victory for freedom of speech. Under the theory of never letting a crisis go to waste, the left immediately denounced the decision as a victory for corporations and a defeat for the American citizen.

There is no question that gutting McCain-Feingold was a great victory, but the same clowns that gave us that horrible law are now working at something even worse. It is called the DISCLOSE act. The left says it is just going to require corporations to disclose when they are sponsoring speech.

This is simply not true.

This bill, currently in the House Administration Committee would extend the jurisdiction of the Federal Election Commission over speech and in particular speech over the internet.

This would kill the blogosphere. And that is their goal.

By giving the FEC jurisdiction over political speech, bloggers would be required to fill out massive forms and face civil and even criminal penalties for violations. Interestingly enough, the establishment media is exempted from these regulations.

Most bloggers are not rich. Most even have day jobs. Very few could afford fines imposed by the government bureaucracy. Almost none have the funds to be able to fight a government bureaucracy with unlimited funds. If this legislation becomes law, many bloggers will have to stop blogging because the price of compliance is too great or the fear that fines could bankrupt them or even the fear of criminal prosecution!

This is even more troubling when you consider that Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan, as Solicitor General in the Citizens United case argued that the government had the right to ban political pamphlets!

This bill was only introduced less than a month ago and it is now before the House Administration Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.

Call your congressman today and tell them you want this bill killed.

Remember, the Citizens United case, like so many others, was decided by a 5-4 vote. We came within one vote of having the First Amendment being wiped from the Constitution. The left wants to silence anyone who disagrees with them and will keep trying to enact draconian laws to do so.

The bill is HR 5175, the Disclose Act.

Multi-industry letter opposing H.R. 5175, the "Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act (DISCLOSE Act)"

May 27, 2010

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

Agricultural Retailers Association
American Apparel & Footwear Association
American Architectural Manufacturers Association
American Bakers Association
American Chamber of Commerce Executives
American Chemistry Council
American Council of Engineering Companies
The American Financial Services Association
American Foundry Society
American Gas Association
American Hotel and Lodging Association
American Insurance Association
American Lighting Association
American Meat Association
American Petroleum Institute
American Trucking Associations
American Watch Association
Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Arizona-New Mexico Cable Communications Association
Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas
Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Associated Builders & Contractors of Western Washington
Association Benefits Corporation
Associated Equipment Distributors
Associated Food Stores, Inc
Associated General Contractors
Associated General Contractors of California (AGC)
Association of Washington Business
Associated Oregon Industries
Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association
Bismarck Mandan Chamber of Commerce
Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce
Brick Industry Association
Business Roundtable
Business Coalition for Fair Competition
Builders Exchange Inc.
California Retailers Association
CenTex Chapter IEC
Central Alabama Chapter IEC
Central Indiana IEC
Central Missouri IEC
Central Ohio AEC/IEC
Central Pennsylvania Chapter IEC
Central Washington IEC
Centre County IEC
Central Ohio Chapter Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc.
Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT)
Destination Marketing Association International
East Tennessee IEC
Eastern Washington Chapter, IEC
Edison Electric Institute
Equipment Marketing & Distribution Association
Federation of American Hospitals
Florida Fertilizer & Agrichemical Association
Foundry Association of Michigan
Futures Industry Association
Georgia Industry Association
Georgia Mining Association
Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce
Greater Montana IEC
HARDI - Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International
Hilton Head Island – Bluffton Chamber of Commerce
Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce
IEC Atlanta Chapter
IEC Chesapeake
IEC Dakotas, Inc.
IEC Dallas Chapter
IEC Florida West Coast
IEC Fort Worth/Tarrant County
IEC Georgia Chapter
IEC Greater St. Louis
IEC Hampton Roads Chapter
IEC National
IEC NCAEC
IEC New England
IEC of Arkansas
IEC of East Texas
IEC of Greater Cincinnati
IEC of Idaho
IEC of Illinois
IEC of Kansas City
IEC of Northwest Pennsylvania
IEC of Oregon
IEC of Southeast Missouri
IEC of Texoma
IEC of the Bluegrass
IEC of the Texas Panhandle
IEC of Utah
IEC Southern Arizona
IEC Southern Colorado Chapter
IEC Southern Indiana Chapter-Evansville
IEC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter
IEC Western Reserve Chapter
IEC, Inc. El Paso Chapter
IEC, Inc. Lubbock Chapter
IEC, Inc. San Antonio Chapter
IEC, South Florida Chapter, Inc.
IECA Kentucky & S Indiana Chapter
IECA of Arizona
IECA of Nashville
IECA of Southern California, Inc.
IEC-OKC, Inc.
Independent Electrical Contractors, Inc
Indiana Cast Metals Association
Inland Pacific Chapter Associated Builders & Contractors
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
International Dairy Foods Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
International Franchise Association
International Housewares Association
ISSA - The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association
Johnson City-Jonesborough-Washington County Chamber of Commerce
Kansas Chamber of Commerce
Kansas Food Dealers Association
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce
Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors
Marine Retailers Association of America
Maryland Chamber of Commerce
MEC IEC of Dayton
Metals Service Center Institute
Mid-Oregon Chapter IEC
Mid-South Chapter IEC
Middle Tennessee Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Midwest IEC
Mississippi Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc
Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce
Montana IEC
National Association of Chemical Distributors
National Association of Home Builders
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
National Federation of Independent Business
National Grain and Feed Association
National Marine Distributors Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
National Mining Association
National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies
National Paper Trade Association
National Poultry & Food Distributors Association
National Restaurant Association
National Retail Federation
National Roofing Contractors Association
Nebraska Agri-Business Association
New Jersey IEC
New Jersey Motor Truck Association
Northern New Mexico IEC
Northern Ohio ECA
North American Equipment Dealers Association
NW Washington IEC
Ohio Cast Metals Association
Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers Association
Outdoor Power Equipment and Engine Service Association
Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Pennsylvania Foundry Association
Petroleum Equipment Institute
Public Service Research Council
Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce
Puget Sound Washington Chapter IEC
Renewing American Leadership
Retail Grocer's Association of Kansas City
Retail Industry Leaders Association
Rio Grande Valley IEC, Inc
Rocky Mountain Agribusiness Association
Rocky Mountain Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Rocky Mountain Chapter IEC
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Society of American Florists
South Carolina Fertilizer & Agrichemicals Association.
Southern Crop Production Association
Southern New Mexico IEC
Southeast Pennsylvania Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Southeast Texas Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Tennessee Chapter - Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Texas State IEC
Textile Care Allied Trades Association
Tri State IEC
The Remanufacturing Institute
Truck Renting and Leasing Association
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Travel Association
Washington Automotive Wholesalers Association
WECA IEC
Western Colorado IEC
Wichita Chapter IEC
Wisconsin Crop Production Association
60 Plus Association

KEY VOTE Letter on "DISCLOSE Act" May 28, 2010

KEY VOTE: Oppose H.R. 5175

"Silencing the Voice of Small Business Act"

Dear Member of the U.S. House of Representatives:

On behalf of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), I strongly urge your opposition to H.R. 5175. In anticipation of the House vote following the upcoming congressional recess, SBE Council will continue to educate our members and the small business community about the unconstitutional, discriminatory, onerous and politically motivated nature of H.R. 5175.

The clear intent of the bill is to muzzle the voice and speech of businesses and business associations in the upcoming elections.  Small business owners and entrepreneurs already feel their voice is being dismissed and ignored in the legislative process as Congress continues to tax, regulate, mandate, intrude and spend against their interests.  H.R. 5175 is simply another tool to shut small businesses out of the political process.

It's hard to imagine how this legislation's title - "Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act" (DISCLOSE Act) - could possibly be more misleading. After all, it threatens the First Amendment rights of the business community, including small businesses. A more apt title might be the "Silencing the Voice of Small Business Act."

Indeed, the intent of H.R. 5175 is to stop American businesses and the voluntary associations that represent so many parts of the business community from weighing in on issues of importance leading up to elections. Why exactly is Congress looking to limit the speech of entrepreneurs and small businesses? Meanwhile, the free speech rights of labor unions are effectively left intact.

For example, blanket restrictions on election-related speech, such as independent expenditures, would be placed on government contractors, but effectively not unions under government contract. Unwarranted and burdensome disclosure requirements - with the clear intent to scare off speakers - would apply to businesses and business associations, but again, not to labor unions due to the donor levels laid out in the legislation.

In addition, the act's ban on political speech by so-called "foreign-controlled domestic corporations" reaches to businesses with domestic ownership levels reaching 80 percent. Again, there is no application of foreign membership or control levels for labor unions.

Of course, all of this flies directly in the face of the kind of speech most clearly and fully protected under the First Amendment, i.e., speech related to politics, elections and policy. The U.S. Supreme Court has been clear in its decisions that such speech warrants protection, and any differential treatment of speakers based on identity or content violates the First Amendment.

Make no mistake, the effect of the DISCLOSE Act would be to limit views and opinions from the business community, while protecting the political, election-related and policy speech of labor unions.

Again, a glaring question looms large: Why are members of Congress trying to limit free speech and political debate in the United States of America at all? The only logical answer is to achieve a political advantage by limiting the business community's right to speak out. No matter where one happens to fall on the philosophical and political spectrum, that is nothing less than shameful.

America's small business owners - the engines of economic growth and job creation - should be allowed to have their voices heard and their speech protected. The DISCLOSE Act would achieve the exact opposite.

Indeed, small businesses would suffer most due to the imposition of costly and varied regulations and mandates, as they lack the necessary resources. So, large companies and unions would be able to speak out, with small businesses stifled.

SBE Council urges your opposition to the DISCLOSE Act and will KEY VOTE this piece of legislation. A vote for H.R. 5175 is most certainly a vote against small business.

Please feel free to contact SBE Council with additional questions, or if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO