Roy Blunt: “If I heard the previous speaker correctly, and Shays-Meehan already allows this in all probability, why do we not just…”

“If I heard the previous speaker correctly, and Shays-Meehan already allows this in all probability, why do we not just be specific about it? This really just says that you can contact, you can encourage others to contact a Member of the House or a Member of the Senate during this 60-day blockout period, if in fact there is an issue before the Congress or likely to come before the Congress, and encourage that they be contacted on how they would vote. When we come back in September, everything we deal with would be in that 60-day period, where it is arguable whether you could contact, whether you could encourage the contact of a Member of Congress. I think it is probably not arguable that you could call a Member of Congress and say, we would like you to do this. It is probably not arguable that you could write your own letter. But Shays-Meehan appears to say that you cannot encourage others to do that. We have got appropriations bills that will be coming, that we will send to the Senate, others that will be coming back in conference from the Senate. Are we saying that no group could send out a postcard that says, contact your Member of Congress about this issue that is coming up next week or a specific Member of Congress and mention their name?”