WASHINGTON – In response to recent investigations that have discovered the Bush Administration has used covert propaganda campaigns to promote Administration priorities, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today introduced the Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act of 2005. The legislation makes the prohibition on covert propaganda a permanent part of the U.S. Code and calls for improved Congressional oversight on public relations contracts. Currently, there is little effective enforcement of these campaigns.

“There have been far too many instances of the Bush Administration taking advantage of lenient enforcement and the lack of oversight of covert propaganda,” said DeLauro. “With reports surfacing that Social Security will soon be the next domestic program to fall victim to government-funded advertising, it is especially critical that Congress enforce this prohibition and increase oversight of these advertising and public relations contracts.”

The Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act would codify the prohibition against publicity and propaganda. This provision, which is regularly included in appropriations bills, has been interpreted to prohibit (1) covert propaganda that does not identify the government as the source, (2) information intended for “self-aggrandizement” or “puffery,” and (3) materials that serve a solely partisan purpose.

The bill would also strengthen public disclosure by requiring that all federally funded public relations materials identify the funding source. Communications subject to these disclosure requirements would include video news releases produced by federal contractors, statements by commentators who are under contract with the federal government to state a particular opinion, and all advertising, brochures, and similar materials. And it would establish requirements that agencies notify relevant Congressional committees about public relations, advertising, and polling contracts and provide additional information upon request.

“Federal funding should not be used to propagandize Administration proposals,” said DeLauro. “This is clearly a misuse of taxpayer dollars and it must be stopped.”

In the last year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found two cases of covert propaganda that were in violation of the Antideficiency Act. The first was with the Department of Health and Human Services, which used video news releases depicting new stories favorable to the Medicare drug law using a “reporter” who was actually an actor. In the second, GAO found that the Office of Drug Control Policy had violated the law by producing similar news releases to promote an anti-marijuana message - again by using an actor not a journalist.

Most recently, USA Today reported that Armstrong Williams, a conservative political commentator had been paid $240,000 by the U.S. Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. Mr. Williams audience did not know he was being paid to praise this bill. And today The Washington Post reports that syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher had a federal contract to promote the Bush Administration’s “marriage initiative.”

Under DeLauro’s bill, the penalties for violation would be the same as those included in the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. sec. 1341). Officers and employees of the federal government who violate the prohibition would be subject to administrative penalties including suspension from duty without pay and removal from office. There would be criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations of the prohibition, including fines of not more than $5,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.