On April 27, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent a letter to eight Democratic senators finding that the Bush administration's program to promote its Social Security plan to the public does not constitute illegal use of government funds for grassroots lobbying. The senators had asked for an assessment of whether the overall context and message of the administration's Social Security campaign amounted to a clear appeal to the public to contact members of Congress. The GAO disagreed, saying that no violation occurs unless there is an express request to the public to contact Congress.

An attempt by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI) to extend federal campaign finance regulation to independent political groups has backfired in the Senate Rules Committee, which amended the 527 Reform Act of 2005 (S. 271), to repeal portions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The vastly altered version of S. 271 passed by the committee on April 27 is a crazy quilt of amendments that restricts independent groups while lifting limits on business groups and PACs run by members of Congress.

The Bush administration has denied use of public facilities to a group critical of its version of Social Security reform, while using federal resources to pay for propaganda and promotion of its agenda. It refused to allow a women's group to hold a conference on Social Security at the National Archives because they did not have a speaker supporting private accounts. The same week three people were ejected from a federal government supported town hall meeting on Social Security in Colorado because their car had an anti-war bumper sticker.

On April 5, the Senate Finance Committee continued its examination of accountability, governance and oversight of the nonprofit sector in a hearing titled "Charities and Charitable Giving: Proposals for Reform." The hearing focused mostly on the valuation of non-cash contributions, excessive compensation, transparency and the sharing of information.