CSE Impact Update 3.13

CSE’s Key Issues for February

During the month of February, CSE will concentrate on a number of key issues and encourage our members and activists to reach out to their elected officials and make their voices heard. CSE’s grassroots activists will call upon their senators to restore America’s energy security by passing legislation that emphasizes domestic production of reliable energy resources and regulatory improvement.

CSE members and activists will continue to encourage Congress to avoid excessive spending on wasteful government programs and hold them accountable for past spending transgressions. Also, in light of recent calls to roll back President Bush’s recently enacted tax cuts by members of the Left, such as Sen. Kennedy, CSE members will contract their congressional members and ask them to make the first tax cut in a generation permanent.

Because Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D- VT) are stonewalling on President Bush’s judicial nominations, essentially precluding them from a committee hearing or a vote on the Senate floor, CSE activists will urge their senators to protect the nation’s interests and start moving on President Bush’s nominations. Furthermore, CSE activists will call on the Department of Justice to reassess its priorities, and devote scarce tax dollars to the war on terrorism, rather than pursue a baseless racketeering case against the tobacco industry.

Finally, CSE members will continue in their mission for fundamental Social Security reform. Our activists know that everyday that passes without Congress enacting Social Security reform draws the retirement crises nearer. Activists will contact their legislators to let them know that genuine reform means the creation of Personal Retirement Accounts (PRAs) so that people can create personal wealth and enjoy a secure retirement.

For more detailed information on CSE’s February Message of the Month, visit us at click here.

CSE participates in the 29th Annual Conservative Political Action Committee Conference

The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) is holding its 29th annual conference in Arlington, VA this week, and CSE is there. CSE staff and activists are manning a booth at the event, distributing our educational literature, and mobilizing citizens to write their elected officials in favor of a number of CSE’s core issues. On Saturday, February 2, CSE President Paul Beckner will moderate a panel discussion entitled “The Social Security Debate: How Conservatives Can Win,” featuring Judge Ray Holbrook of the United Seniors’ Association, Jim Martin of 60-Plus Association, and James Hamilton of the Council for Government Reform.

National Journal Recognizes CSE’s Energy Security Efforts

CSE and CSE Foundation’s efforts to educate and mobilize citizen activists in favor of a national energy policy that increases the domestic production of reliable energy resources was recognized by the National Journal in an article entitled “ANWR Lobbying Heats Up,” on February 2.

The Senate has indicated that action on the energy bill will be swift. Since March 2000, CSE has: produced and distributed educational literature to our 280,000 members, highlighting America’s need to restore our energy security; met and spoke face-to-face with nearly 5,000 citizens nationwide on the merits of a national energy policy that emphasizes increased domestic production and regulatory improvement; generated over 2,500 activist phone calls, letters, emails, and visits with elected officials in support of a national energy policy and against attempts to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) and the further increase of CAFE standards; and garnered over 20 earned media hits.

CSE Files Letters with the Department of Justice in Support of the Proposed Microsoft Settlement

CSE Chairman C. Boyden Gray and CSE President Paul Beckner submitted letters, pursuant to the Tunney Act, endorsing the proposed settlement between Microsoft Corporation, the United States Department of Justice, and nine state attorneys general. The proposed settlement would end the three-year federal lawsuit that has cost taxpayers nearly $40 million. In his letter, Paul Beckner writes:

“CSE Foundation believes that this balanced approach is in the best interests of consumers because it avoids the punitive remedies – including dismemberment – that would limit software functionality, raise costs, discourage innovation – all for only imagined benefits in return. Additionally, the settlement will restore some stability to a high-tech marketplace that has been in depression for over 18 months. Continuing on with the case at this point threatens to exacerbate the already considerable damage the litigation has caused to the software industry, as well as the semiconductor and telecommunications equipment sectors.”

Or as C. Boyden Gray states in his letter to the Department of Justice:

“If this case is truly about protecting consumers from illegal and monopolistic business practices, then that has been accomplished in a reasonable, enforceable and unprecedented manner through the consent decree negotiated between Microsoft and the Justice Department and supported by nine States. If, on the other hand, this case has turned into an opportunity to prolong litigation and wring additional dollars out of Microsoft, it is in the best interest of the public, the economy, and indeed the judiciary to bring this case to an end as precipitously as is possible.”

For a copy of CSE President Paul Beckner’s letter to the Department of Justice, click here.