On Sept. 25, 2006 the AFL-CIO, Chamber of Commerce, National Education Association and OMB Watch issued a statement about the impact of McCain-Feingold's "electioneering communications" rule on grassroots lobbying campaigns. The statement notes that Sept. 8, 2006 marked the beginning of a 60-day pre-election blackout period for broadcasts by nonprofits, unions and business corporations to air a message that simply asks citizens to contact representatives in Congress to vote yes or no on a bill. The statement notes that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently deadlocked on a proposal to exempt grassroots lobbying broadcasts from this overly broad campaign finance rule. The issue has been contentious because some reform groups have opposed any exemption to the rule. The statement challenges opponents of protection for grassroots lobbying broadcasts to debate the issue on the merits, saying: These "reform" groups make no effort to offer a constructive proposal to distinguish grassroots lobbying from campaign ads. Instead, they make dire predictions about "huge loopholes" and impugn the integrity of organizations that collectively represent tens of millions of ordinary citizens. Nor do they offer any argument about how a reasonable grassroots lobbying exemption could be abused. In fact, during 2004, charities and religious organizations were entirely exempt from the "electioneering communications" rule, and the record is clear that no "abuse" occurred. See the full text of statement