WASHINGTON – Three senior Democratic lawmakers today wrote to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Joshua Bolton, urging him to comply with the findings of Congress’s investigative arm – the General Accounting Office (GAO) – and rescind his order to agencies, which advocates for the continued use of prepackaged news stories. The Justice Department and the Office of Management and Budget on Friday circulated a memorandum instructing all executive branch agencies to ignore the GAO findings. The GAO has ruled twice previously that video news releases on the Medicare drug law and anti-drug use campaign were cases of covert propaganda.

“No Administration should ever rely on covert means to promote its policy positions,” wrote the lawmakers. “We have been concerned that the prepackaged news stories examined by GAO were not isolated instances, but were part of a pattern of the misuse of government funds to support Administration priorities. Based on your advice that agencies disregard the GAO, we fear that the use of illegal covert propaganda will only increase.”

The Office of Management and Budget ensures that appropriated funds are not spent for purposes not authorized by the Congress. By urging agencies to disregard the GAO Circular, the lawmakers said Director Bolton was not just ignoring this responsibility, but appears to be encouraging the misuse of taxpayer funds in his instruction to agencies.

The letter was sent by Rep. George Miller (CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee; Rep. Henry A. Waxman (CA), the senior Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee; and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT), co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. The three lawmakers have been aggressively pursuing numerous instances of illegal government propaganda by the Bush Administration.

The full text of the letter follows.

March 15, 2005

The Honorable Joshua B. Bolten

Director, Office of Management and Budget

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Washington, DC 20503

Dear Director Bolten:

We were shocked to read reports in the New York Times on Sunday and in the Washington Post today, that you have instructed federal agencies to disregard the Comptroller General’s finding that several prepackaged news stories prepared by federal agencies constitute illegal covert propaganda.

On two occasions in the past year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found prepackaged news stories prepared by federal agencies violate the law. Both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy released video news releases that relied on actors rather than reporters and did not disclose to the viewing audience that the agency had paid for and distributed the information. The GAO found that, by concealing the source of the information, the agencies had violated the prohibition on spending appropriated funds for publicity and propaganda.

In a February 17, 2005 circular to all agencies and departments, the Comptroller General described the legal basis for these findings and explained that, “agencies may not use appropriated funds to produce or distribute prepackaged news stories intended for the television viewing audience that conceal or do not clearly identify for the television viewing audience that the agency was the source of those materials.” In noting that some prepackaged news is allowable under law, he urged agency officials to “scrutinize any proposed prepackaged news stories to ensure appropriate disclosures.”

In your capacity as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, you play an important role in ensuring that appropriated funds are not spent for purposes not authorized by the Congress. We are concerned that, by urging agencies to disregard the GAO Circular, you are ignoring this responsibility. In fact, you appear to be encouraging the misuse of taxpayer funds in your instruction to agencies. The Office of Management and Budget should be concerned about all misuses of taxpayer funds, even those that serve the purposes of the Administration.

The American public should know if the government has paid for information that is presented as news. To that end, we have introduced legislation, the Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act of 2005, that would codify the prohibition on covert propaganda, require that communication materials disclose the funding source to the target audience, and improve Congressional oversight on public relations contracts.

No Administration should ever rely on covert means to promote its policy positions. We have been concerned that the prepackaged news stories examined by GAO were not isolated instances, but were part of a pattern of the misuse of government funds to support Administration priorities. Based on your advice that agencies disregard the GAO, we fear that the use of illegal covert propaganda will only increase.

We strongly urge you rescind your February 17 directive and to instead direct all federal agencies to concur with the GAO circular to ensure that the federal government does not deliberately seek to mislead the American people through undisclosed government-produced video news releases.

Sincerely,

Rosa L. DeLauro Henry Waxman George Miller

Member of Congress Member of Congress Member of Congress