In a recent report, "An Attack on Nonprofit Speech: Death By a Thousand Cuts," OMB Watch cited the example of an official at the Department of Health and Human Services warning local Head Start centers that they risked prosecution if they lobbied against the administration's plan to overhaul the program. OMB Watch called the incident "a ham-handed effort to stop advocacy in opposition to the president's plan."

"It is to be expected that a president will push his or her policy agenda and use the tools at hand to do so," the OMB Watch report said. "However, it is not appropriate for a president to attempt to silence those that disagree with him. The administration needs to change its tack and cease its efforts to control the public, independent voice of nonprofit grantees."

Bush administration officials had no comment on the report. But William A. Schambra, director of the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal at the Hudson Center, said the OMB Watch was wrong to conclude that a conspiracy exists to silence nonprofits.

"The report doesn't add up to anything," he said. "Its a compendium of legislative desires, administrative edicts that were withdrawn, and random wishes that OMB has heard about that might have cropped up in a legislative aide's mind."