Lobbyists Shouldn’t Get Federal Money : Left-leaning groups seek new programs, then use the funds to lobby for increases.

These formative days of the new Republican majority offer hope to millions of Americans beset for three decades with a war against our once virtuous culture. Suffering from overexposure, beaten down but not broken, we American taxpayers have endured much from Democrat rule. The Republican life preserver known as a “contract with America” came in the nick of time.

A bloodless, but no less painful, second American Revolution is under way. Even so, the heroes of our new revolution are overlooking one important key to establishing long-term change: Stop the aid and comfort to the enemy. All good revolutionaries know that the first order of business is neutralizing the enemy from within. In this case, the new Republican majority should begin to defund the left.

The left--loosely defined as radical environmentalists, abortionists, radical feminists, consumerists, welfare statists and the AIDS industry--has a huge stake in government largess. Much more is at stake than mere ideology. These special interests are making a fortune feeding at our taxpayer-funded trough. What a racket! They lobby Congress for new spending programs, then apply for funds generated by the new spending programs and then turn around and lobby Congress to increase program funding for the next year: a never-ending cycle of advocacy welfare. This is an outrageous conflict of interest.

Take, for example, the National Council of Senior Citizens. NCSC, an AFL-CIO front group, collects a few hundred thousand dollars every year in membership dues to lobby Congress, rate congressional votes and endorse political candidates. But the group receives the remaining 98% of its budget from taxpayers. In 1993, NCSC received $68 million in federal funds. Of course, the money was designated for administering several federal programs, including elderly housing and senior citizen employment at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Imagine the outcry if the Michigan Militia was receiving our taxpayer dollars. All funding would be terminated. Instantly. Reasonable minds would understand that such funds are wholly interchangeable and, notwithstanding any deserving nature of a program, the group’s political nature would offset any good intentions.

The political nature of these organizations is exactly the reason why they should not receive one penny of taxpayer funds. Not long ago, outrage was expressed when it was discovered that the Nation of Islam was receiving tax dollars. No doubt deafening alarm bells would rightly ring all over Capitol Hill if the Ku Klux Klan was receiving federal funds to provide day care or AIDS education or low-income housing.

An excellent example of how extremist special interests exploit your tax dollars is the National School Health Education Coalition. Last year, during debate in the Senate on the Improving America’s Schools Act, NSHEC opposed an amendment offered by Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.) to prohibit tax dollars from being used to portray, support or encourage homosexuality as a positive lifestyle.

Opponents of the Smith amendment listed for the record 36 member organizations comprising the national board of NSHEC. These 36 groups received a total of 104 federal grants, all for AIDS education, over the past two years of the Clinton Administration, for a total of an astounding, budget-busting $38 million. NSHEC, the lobbying umbrella, itself received more than $500,000. Collectively, this group fields 60 registered federal lobbyists that are identifiable.

Taxpayers should never be forced to fund political advocacy groups, right or left, no matter the legitimacy of the programs being pushed.

While several halfhearted attempts have been made in the past to separate political advocates from your tax dollars, Congress should limit or prohibit the federal lobbying activities of recipients of federal funds. Tax-exempt lobbying organizations should be prohibited from receiving tax dollars in the form of grants, awards or contracts, and every other recipient of such funds should be prohibited from lobbying or paying someone to lobby on their behalf regarding the specific aid program from which the funds came.

Only then can taxpayers hope to reclaim their government.