Moments ago, the House passed a new bill that seeks to ban misleading Census mailers once and for all.
The new legislation, prepared by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the top GOPer on the House Oversight committee, would close any loopholes in the existing law that already bans deceptive fundraising mailers of the sort sent recently by the RNC.
The new bill passed the House by voice vote.
“Republicans and Democrats, we are united in our efforts to stop the RNC from using Census mailings for political gain and to fundraise for the RNC,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said a few minutes before the vote.
“We speak with one voice,” Issa said. “We speak today. I suspect that they will speak by tomorrow in the Senate. And we will make sure that this cannot be allowed.”
Issa said he also expects that the postal service will be granted new power within the next few hours or days that would, “without question,” “allow for the holding of that mail and its destruction.”
The RNC mailer bears the words “Census Document” and, in all caps, “DO NOT DESTROY/OFFICIAL DOCUMENT,” on the outside of the envelope. In smaller letters, it says: “This is not a U.S. government document.”
See the mailer here.
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