[EM] House Sets Campaign Finance Vote
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
Wed Feb 6 15:58:38 PST 2002
D-A report from political reality land.
NOT being discussed ----- the minority rule math of the U.S.A. Congress and
the Electoral College.
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House Sets Campaign Finance Vote
By JIM ABRAMS
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republican leaders agreed Tuesday to allow a vote
next week on the most significant changes in campaign spending law in a
quarter-century.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said the House will devote next Tuesday
and Wednesday to the legislation that would limit campaign spending and
advertising and require more disclosure of campaign contributors.
He said he had made the decision after consulting with House Majority Leader
Dick Armey, R-Texas, and the Democratic leader, Dick Gephardt of Missouri.
``I expect there will be a vigorous debate on this issue that will reflect
well on the House of Representatives,'' Hastert said.
``At long last, campaign finance reform will be considered in the House,''
said Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., partners in
sponsoring the leading campaign spending bill. ``The timing is favorable as
the unfolding Enron scandal underscores the need for reform.''
The Shays-Meehan bill is backed by most Democrats and a minority of
Republicans, but is opposed by GOP leaders and many in the Republican ranks,
who see it as an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech rights.
President Bush is against a central goal of the Shays-Meehan bill, to ban the
flow of unregulated soft money to the national parties, but has made clear to
Republicans that they cannot count on him vetoing the legislation if it gets
to his desk.
The Shays-Meehan bill would ban the soft money donations that corporations,
unions and wealthy individuals now make to federal political parties. It also
would bar unions, corporations and some independent groups from broadcasting
certain types of political advertising within 60 days of an election or 30
days of a primary.
Soft money donations to the parties have exploded from $86 million in the
1992 presidential election to $500 million in 2000, but repeated efforts to
change campaign finance law have died in Congress in recent years.
Last year the Senate, which moved back into Democratic control, passed
similar legislation offered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold,
D-Wis. Efforts to push Shays-Meehan through the House last July collapsed
after a procedural dispute, and GOP leaders have resisted giving supporters
of the bill another chance.
To revive their bill, Shays and Meehan resorted to a little-used procedure
called a discharge petition, whereby signatures from 218 House members, a
majority of the body, can force leaders to bring a bill to a vote.
Supporters of the bill last month achieved that goal, with the last few
signatures secured in the wake of revelations that Enron, the collapsed
energy giant, had made large donations to lawmakers from both parties.
Feingold, in a statement, said the Enron case ``has created a climate that I
believe will make it very difficult for members to vote against reform.''
``We asked for a fair vote and we are going to get one. Bring it on,'' said
Scott Harshbarger, president of the advocacy group Common Cause.
Under rules for the debate, opponents of Shays-Meehan are allowed to offer an
alternative which is expected to be legislation sponsored last year by Rep.
Bob Ney, R-Ohio, that does not ban soft money but requires more disclosure of
political donations. The opposition can also offer amendments that
Shays-Meehan supporters will try to defeat.
The bill's supporters hope for the House to pass a bill that is almost
identical to that approved by the Senate, to avoid a House-Senate conference
that could result in the legislation getting stalled or changed.
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