COMMENTARY In July of 1996 I registered as a lobbyist with the House and Senate in order to engage their members regarding the extraterrestrial issue and the truth embargo. The Disclosure advocacy movement was nascent (the term was not even in use yet), the little known Rockefeller Initiative targeting the Clinton administration was winding down, Art Bell was about to make a critical decision he would allow political discussions of the ET/UFO issue on his show (he hated politics in general) and the government was about to launch a counter offensive to block the advocacy movement that would get nasty.
Congressional approval from the American people was running around 40% - not great but not awful. The economy was excellent and growing. All good. However, the willingness of members of Congress to publicly, even privately, engage the UFO/ET issues was almost zero. The only example circa 1996 of such an engagement was the courageous effort by lone Congressman Steven Schiff of New Mexico. It did not go well for Congressman Schiff who died while in office shortly after going public with his concerns about government handling of the Roswell records and the Roswell events in general.
Dealing with Congress in those years was effectively the equivalent of bouncing a ping pong ball off a brick wall. For this reason I redirected PRG's lobbying efforts toward the political media, which has always had the power to end the ET truth embargo by simply doing their job.
Since 1996 both private and public efforts to draw Congress into the issue via congressional hearings have failed. Congress remained a brick wall. Why then is PRG heading back to Capitol Hill to again press for the first congressional hearing on the extraterrestrial evidence since 1968? There are two key reasons.
Following the events of September 11, 2001 the congressional approval rating had risen to an extraordinary 84% at which time began the most profound drop in congressional status in history. In a span of twelve years congressional approval dropped to 10% as of this PRG Update. This is unprecedented. As the Gallup polling data below show, Congress has had its low points, but never such a collapse in approval.
If you are a member of Congress with an approval rating of 84%, you have no motivation to do anything to risk your status. Life is good, no courage required, nowhere to go but down. But when you are a member of the current Congress you have nowhere to go but up. This most dysfunctional of American institutions desperately needs an issue that is both profoundly important and essentially non-partisan. Ending the truth embargo is that issue.
Which raises the second key factor. How to get Congress's attention? Never has the truth advocacy movement had an entrée like the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure. Sitting congressional members can watch former colleagues react to 30 hours of testimony over 5 days from researchers and government/agency/political witnesses in a setting designed to look like a congressional hearing.
The CHD is the key to the door. Combined with the level of public awareness of the ET issues circa 2013, it may be the key to Disclosure.
PRG executive director Stephen Bassett will speak at the IV World UFO Forum, November 21-24, Iguazu Falls, Brazil. His presentation will address Brazil's potential leadership of the U. N. joint resolution. There will be advanced publicity to that effect in Brazil and an effort will be made to set up post conference meetings with Brazilian officials.