Obama pushed on contractor disclosure (Politico)

More than 60 House Democrats urged President Barack Obama Thursday to sign a controversial executive order they say would promote corporate accountability on political giving, but that conservatives allege is an attempt to intimidate administration critics.

The order would require companies seeking government contracts to disclose political contributions ? including those that otherwise would have been secret to groups that air political ads attacking or supporting candidates.

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While supporters billed the order as an effort to crack down on pay-to-play contracting, Obama seemed to back off plans to sign it after a leaked draft in April prompted an outcry among congressional Republicans and their allies, including the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which questioned its constitutionality and blasted it as an effort to use executive power to punish or silence political adversaries and reward supporters.

But in their letter, House Democrats urged him to ?to respond forcefully? to the criticism by signing the order.

?We believe that with public funds come public responsibilities, and anyone benefitting from taxpayer money has the responsibility to be fully transparent,? reads the letter, which was spearheaded by California Rep. Anna Eshoo, who had pushed legislative efforts to enact similar disclosure requirements even before the order leaked, and, since then, has taken a leading role in pushing back against GOP attacks on the order.

In a statement released with the letter, Eshoo urged Obama to sign the order and proclaimed, ?We will stand with the president for transparency.?

In May, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) introduced legislation to block the executive order by barring the federal government from collecting or using information about federal contractors? political spending.

In a statement explaining his motivation, Issa ? who also threatened to subpoena an administration witness to testify at a hearing on the draft order before his Oversight & Government Reform committee ? said, ?Businesses should not have to determine and report to the government on whether certain employees contributed to organizations that support or oppose positions on issues including gay marriage and abortion.?

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