Taxes: The AFL-CIO lobbied against passage of the $500 per child tax credit, and other tax-reduction measures.

Welfare reform: AFL-CIO President John Sweeney described the 1996 welfare reform law as "anti-poor, anti-immigrants, anti-women and anti-children." AFSCME aggressively lobbied against imposing any time limits on cash benefits to welfare recipients.

In each case, labor's membership is forced to fund these efforts through their dues payments.

CONCLUSION

The 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the FECA have combined in a way that allows union officials to extract million of dollars in political cash from workers without their consent. Despite the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Beck, union officials continue to erect roadblocks designed to thwart workers' attempts to exercise their first amendment rights.

The proposals at the center of the campaign finance reform debate in Washington would do nothing to rectify this egregious abuse of civil liberties. In fact, the proposals may worsen the situation by giving the appearance of solving the problem, while only paying lip service. Finally, enacting such measures would send a clear signal to the National Labor Relations Board, charged with enforcing the NLRA, that Congress has considered the issue and rejected proposals to provide adequate protection for workers.

65-013-00-19

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APPENDIX 30.

nea

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

STATEMENT OF

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

SUBMITTED TO THE

COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION

UNITED STATES SENATE

ON

COMPELLED POLITICAL SPEECH

APRIL 12, 2000

Chairman McConnell and Members of the Committee:

The National Education Association (NEA) thanks you for the opportunity to submit comments

regarding the topic of "Compelled Political Speech" as part of the Committee's consideration of campaign finance reform.

I. Introduction

NEA is a national association with approximately 2.5 million members, the vast majority of whom are employed by public school districts, colleges, and universities. NEA has approximately 14,000 local affiliates.

NEA members represent the full, diverse spectrum of public education. We are elementary and secondary school teachers, paraprofessionals, vocational educators, and postsecondary education faculty. NEA members are deeply committed to advancing public policies that will strengthen public education and enable all children to achieve academic success. NEA represents the interests and concerns of its members before Congress and with other policy makers. Membership in the Association thus gives NEA members a voice in the political process and the public policy debate that, as individuals, they might not otherwise have.

Since approximately 1972, NEA has had a federally registered political action committee (PAC), now known as The NEA Fund for Children and Public Education. The NEA Fund enables NEA

members to support candidates who will work to improve public education and protect the rights of education employees. The NEA Fund is funded entirely by voluntary contributions, not membership dues.