Reminders to Congress

From Campaign For Liberty:

I'll admit. I was worried.

Just two weeks ago, it looked like we were about to suffer serious setbacks in our efforts to pass Audit the Fed and stop the National Internet Tax Mandate.

But then Campaign for Liberty supporters turned up the heat on the House and Senate. And thanks to your efforts, things have changed.

Not only did Campaign for Liberty supporters stop the National Internet Tax Mandate from being snuck into law this month, we've been told the U.S. House is going to vote on the Audit the Fed in early September.

Passing Audit the Fed through the House increases the pressure on Harry Reid and his Senate cronies to hold a roll call vote before Congress adjourns for the November elections.

That's great news. But we can't celebrate just yet.

Instead, it's time to turn up the heat.

If we are to succeed in getting Audit the Fed passed by the House and onto the Senate floor, and stopping the National Internet Tax Mandate, we need to make sure that Members of Congress hear from C4L activists like you over August recess to ensure House Leadership doesn't try to weasel out of any action on H.R. 24 or start pushing for new taxes.

That's why I've asked Campaign for Liberty Vice President of Policy Norman Singleton to prepare the below memo detailing our progress and outlining how Campaign for Liberty members can help keep the pressure on Congress over the August recess.

Norm and the C4L staff have also prepared a flier on Audit the Fed for you to download and distribute at town halls or other public events with your Senators and Representative.

So please read Norm's memo, and if at a, chip-in to Campaign for Liberty's efforts to pass Audit the Fed and stop the National Internet Tax Mandate with a gift of $10 or more.

In Liberty,

John Tate
President

Per John's request, I have prepared a brief outline on the progress we've made in our battle to pass Audit the Fed and stop the National Internet Tax Mandate in July, as well suggesting a plan of action for the August recess.

Audit the Fed (H.R. 24)

After a majority of the House of Representatives cosponsored Audit the Fed (H.R. 24) for the third Congress in a row, it appeared it would be easy to convince the House leadership, which was worried bout being “Cantored,” to schedule a vote on the bill.

But instead, three weeks ago the House Committee on Financial Services introduced a Federal Reserve “reform” bill they marketed as providing a “pathway to Audit the Fed.”

But sadly, they fell far short.

In fact, the move was little more than “window dressing” Members of Congress could use during this election season to claim they supported auditing the Fed while effectively protecting its secrecy.

The bad news for them is, it didn't work.

After Campaign for Liberty publicly opposed the bill as an inadequate substitute for the full audit bill, Campaign for Liberty supporters called Financial Services Committee members to let them know that half-measures wouldn't work.

Instead, our members insisted the Committee support legislation mandating a full audit of the fed, as required by H.R. 24.

After hearing from C4L grassroots activists, the Financial Services staff requested a meeting with C4L Director of Legislation Tim Shoemaker and myself, as well as staffers from H.R. 24's sponsor Representative Paul Broun's office.

At this meeting, the Committee staff assured us they were fully supportive of H.R. 24 and expressed a willingness to work with Campaign for Liberty to pass the bill.

Just days after the meeting, we received word that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform would markup the bill.

Once again, Campaign for Liberty supporters sent a strong message to Oversight and Government Reform Committee members to pass a “clean” bill.

The result was Audit the Fed passed out of committee by voice vote!

While we've heard the House will vote on the bill in early September, we must continue to keep the pressure on GOP House leadership to ensure they don't back down.

But if C4L supporters stay engaged, this will give us a good amount of time to turn up the heat on Harry Reid to bring Audit the Fed up for a floor vote up ahead of the November elections.

But that work must start now.

The good news is, Audit the Fed is not the only issue that we made progress on in last month.

National Internet Tax Mandate

Once again, Campaign for Liberty supporters foiled a scheme to ram the National Internet Tax Mandate into law.

Several weeks ago, the House passed legislation making the moratorium on Internet Access Taxes permanent.

This moratorium prevents governments from making getting online a taxable event. If the moratorium expires, citizens could be taxed from multiple jurisdictions every time they send an e-mail to someone in a different state or city.

Obviously, passing legislation either extending the moratorium or making it permanent is widely-supported, so the House bill should have sailed through the Senate with little difficulty.

But even before the bill passed the House, we heard that a bipartisan group of Senators, led by Big Government Republicans Lamar Alexander and Mike Enzi, were working to convince Harry Reid to attach the National Internet Tax Mandate to the Internet Access Tax Moratorium.

Senator Alexander even threatened to hold up the Internet Access Tax Moratorium unless Reid agreed to attach the National Internet Tax Mandate!

Senator Alexander, and his partners-in-crime, were hoping this maneuver could provide cover to wavering Senators by allowing them to claim that they “had to” vote to impose new taxes and regulation on Internet commerce in order to protect their constituents from having to pay taxes every time they went online.

We also heard that the House GOP leadership had quietly signed off on this scheme.

It seemed like a done deal. . .

But then Campaign for Liberty supporters once again weighed in with their Senators, forcing Reid to delay the scheme.

However, crony-capitalist big businesses and revenue-hungry governors will not give up trying to attach the National Internet Tax Mandate to the Internet Access Tax Moratorium.

They will likely try to get Reid to attach it when the Senate returns in September, and if they do not succeed, then they will make an attempt during the “lame duck.”

That is why it is important to keep the pressure on the National Internet Tax Mandate during the August recess.

August Recess: Turn up the Heat!

It is important to keep the heat on House members regarding Audit the Fed to make sure we get at least as strong a vote as we did in 2012.

It's also important to keep the heat on Senators to make sure they know that the people want them to stand with the nearly 75% of Americans who favor Audit the Fed, not Harry Reid and the Big Banksters.

Therefore, I suggest we ask our supporters to check to see if their representative will be holding town halls or making other public appearances and reminding them that the majority of their constituents want them to support Audit the Fed and oppose the National Internet Tax Mandate on EVERY vote.

Attached is a flyer our members can download and pass out at meetings, parades, townhalls, or any other public event with politicians present on Audit the Fed.

The Audit the Fed flier can be accessed here.

If possible, our supporters may also want to schedule personal meetings with their representative and senators to discuss Audit the Fed and the National Internet Tax Mandate.

If our supporters keep the pressure up over August, we will have even more progress advancing Audit the Fed and continue to be successful in stopping the National Internet Tax Mandate.

Pressure from C4L supporters has worked so well over the past several weeks. But the stakes grow higher virtually every day.

It's time to take action now.