Investigations begin: Healthcare grants provided to lobbyists appear to be a violation of federal law
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/lobbying/237015-hhs-inspector-general-says-grants-may-have-illegally-funded-lobbyingexcerpt:
and that the CDC (grant provider) might have led recipients to believe lobbying was
appropriate, despite a federal ban on using grant money for political
activism.
Some materials the CDC provided to grant recipients “appear to
authorize, or even encourage, grantees to use grant funds for
impermissible lobbying,” Levinson wrote.
The HHS inspector general looked into the grants at the request of congressional staff and found the same red flags.
Now let's look at just one of the thousands of grants RWJF provided to lobbyists:
excerpt:
Two features about the program are significant: (1) the Foundation
encouraged its grantees to be activists; (2) advocacy was emphasized to
bring about policy change. The program relied heavily on three major
health voluntary organizations: the American Cancer Society; the
American Heart Association and the American Lung Association. They
provided financial support and, in particular, funds to help lobbying
efforts which the Foundation could not support directly. In addition to
insight on the effects of advocacy, this chapter offers a window into
the role of coalitions in bringing about social change.
So RWJF, a tax-exempt non-profit, provided $99,000,000.00 to the three aforementioned non-governmental organizations and instructed them to "be activists" to "bring about policy change" in other words lobby for legislative action. In the grant verbiage RWJF offers an explanation as to the reason for the grant, RWJF could not directly lobby (support directly) for change, but they felt they could funnel money to surrogate lobbyists and be in compliance. According to the HHS inspector that does not appear to be the case, and investigations / penalties could soon begin.......what say you RWJF?
So RWJF, a tax-exempt non-profit, provided $99,000,000.00 to the three aforementioned non-governmental organizations and instructed them to "be activists" to "bring about policy change" in other words lobby for legislative action. In the grant verbiage RWJF offers an explanation as to the reason for the grant, RWJF could not directly lobby (support directly) for change, but they felt they could funnel money to surrogate lobbyists and be in compliance. According to the HHS inspector that does not appear to be the case, and investigations / penalties could soon begin.......what say you RWJF?
posted by marcus aurelius @ 9:55 AM
"Though we may not be able to protect your business property rights, we certainly support your Second Amendment Rights" 
