'A Government Propaganda Machine'

Senator Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, has a press release out citing a report from the Congressional Research Service in suggesting that the Health and Human Services may be breaking at least three federal laws with a Web site that urges Americans to write a letter to the president to "state your support" that "health reform must be enacted this year." The law bans HHS from spending money on publicity or propaganda designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress. The Secretary of Health and Human Services insists that the Web site is "entirely legal and proper." For the "both sides do it" file, Mr. Grassley noted that when the Bush administration tried to use the Social Security Administration to advance its Social Security overhaul, Democrats cried foul, with Nancy Pelosi, then the House Democratic Leader, issuing a statement saying, "These underhanded tactics are not worthy of our great democracy. The President's commitment to freedom around the world should extend to the freedom of the American people to live without their tax dollars being used to run a government propaganda machine."