The most sweeping change in campaign-finance law in nearly three decades was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday morning. The bill attempts to reduce the influence of money in the political system.
In 2000, the national party committee raised $495 million in “soft money,” almost twice the amount of money raised in 1996.
The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., was passed with no amendments after a 16-hour debate despite objections of Republican leaders. The bill will ban unregulated soft-money donations to national political parties. It will also restrict campaign ads appearing before the election.
U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., said he approved of the legislation.
“This is an important day for democracy and for the American people,” Kind said. “For far too long, excess amounts of money have been allowed to have an undue influence in our representative democracy. Today, Democrats and Republicans came together to reign in Washington’s big money interests and restore Americans’ faith in their electoral system.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., said the legislation may not be successful in eliminating soft-money donations.
“While it bans soft money to national parties, it still allows millions in these unregulated contributions to go to state and local parties,” Green said. “It doesn’t actually attack the soft-money problem; it simply shifts it from the national level to the state and local level.”
Green said he is disappointed the ban will not take effect until the next election cycle.
“My position is simple: we should ban all soft money and ban it now,” Green said. “The end result of [Wednesday’s] action, however, is this: Only some soft money will be banned, and not until nearly a year from now — after the next elections.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., was a key player in bringing this legislation to the floor of the House.
For Wisconsin representatives, the vote seems to have followed a party line.
U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Green all voted against the bill.
U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Jerry Kleczka, D-Wis., Tom Barrett, D-Wis., David Obey, D-Wis., and Kind voted in favor of the legislation.
The bill will now be negotiated in joint conference committees.
In Wisconsin, campaign-finance reform is also an issue. State lawmakers moved to create legislation making broad changes in state campaign finance.
Thursday, state Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, and Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, introduced legislation to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections calling for immediate action on the campaign finance issue.
