David Skaggs: “today I circulated to my colleagues in the House the following document entitled ``The Istook Amendment, New Regulation…”

“today I circulated to my colleagues in the House the following document entitled ``The Istook Amendment, New Regulation of Your Business.'' One of the myths about the so-called Istook-McIntosh-Ehrlich proposal is that it has only to do with nonprofit organizations. In fact its reach will be much broader than that. I think my colleagues ought to be aware of exactly how extensive and pervasive and perverse that reach would be. This fact sheet outlines what businesses could expect under the regime that would be imposed by the Istook amendment. Many people think it has only to do with grants. Of course grants do go to many businesses. Just to point out a few, Lockheed Martin gets research grants from the Defense Department; Chrysler, Ford, W.R. Grace from the Commerce Department. Thousands of others would be affected by grants. But because of the other language in this proposal, many, many other companies would also be subjected to its extraordinary regulatory regime. That is because not only do direct payments count but also the receipt of, quote, anything of value.”