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Thursday, March 21, 2002

Opponents denounced the measure as an unconstitutional attack on freedom of speech and vowed a fight to the Supreme Court.

The 60-40 vote came hours after foes, which included most conservatives in Congress, failed in a last-ditch attempt to filibuster the bill.

The Senate approved an exact version of a measure passed last month by the House, thus avoiding the need for a conference committee, which opponents could have used to kill the measure. The bill was sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Feingold hailed "an exciting chance for reform," just before the final vote.

"This legislation provides a much-needed reform to our political campaign finance laws," McCain said during a last-minute floor speech that sounded more like an oral victory lap than argument for the bill.

"With the stroke of his pen, the president can eliminate the hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated soft money that have caused the American people to question the integrity of their elected representatives," he said.

'Blatantly Unconstitutional'

Opponents have a number of complaints about the bill, the most serious of which is that it represents an unconstitutional limit to political speech. They also argue that limiting the political advertising by non-affiliated groups would protect incumbents, further empower the media and remove the ability of citizens to band together over common political causes.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., led much of the fight against the bill. He has repeatedly promised to fight the bill in court over several provisions he calls "blatantly unconstitutional."

Bush Caves

Despite pressure from conservatives, the Bush White House has refused to issue a veto threat. The president's signature on the bill seems ensured.

"Regrettably, this bill will pass, and regrettably this bill will be signed by the president," McConnell said just before the vote.

"Proponents say that this bill will remove unregulated donations from politics. It won't do that. It will take the money away from the parties and shift most of it to unregulated outside groups."

Boosting the Leftist Media Establishment

"This is profoundly undemocratic," said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, just before the vote. "This violates what the Founding Fathers understood about being important ... I think that you would have a concentration of power in the media, in these special-interest groups that use the media.

"It's going to be harder and harder for people to get their view out if their view differs from the established power structure," Gramm added.

Passage became inevitable after an earlier vote Wednesday, when proponents were able to summon the necessary 60 votes to end debate on the measure and move to final passage. Because an almost identical measure had passed the Senate last April with 59 votes, some thought that opponents might muster the support to filibuster the bill indefinitely.

But supporters of the measure prevailed with a 68-32 vote to end debate.

Before the cloture vote, Senate plurality leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., called the debate and the bill among the most crucial under consideration.

"The American people understand that special-interest money too often influences who runs, who wins and how they govern," he said. "The American people know that our current campaign finance system is broken. And, today, a clear majority of the Senate has said that it is time for us to fix it. The currency of politics should be ideas, not dollars. This bill will allow us to start putting that currency back into circulation."

McCain, who called the day "a great moment," repeatedly said that the seven-year struggle, which has survived scheduling battles, unofficial holds and repeated filibuster threats, might not have come to pass without recent scandals.

The revelations that recently-bankrupted energy trader Enron had donated money to 71 of 100 senators and had pushed electric supply and commodities deregulation through the Capitol and lower statehouses helped the cause, McCain said.

Enron and Global Crossing

Some senators have also said that the Enron and Global Crossing scandals, which highlighted ties to the Clinton and Bush administrations, ensured the president's signature.

With the end of debate, Senate rules require a final vote after 30 hours of additional debate, but an agreement between Daschle and the opponents waived almost all of that debate and allowed a final vote after three additional hours.

There had been discussion of requiring the full amount of debate out of protest of the bill, but Daschle then threatened to keep the Senate in session around the clock until time ran out. Daschle had cots delivered to the Capitol building Friday as a reminder to possible insurgents.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration

Campaign Finance Reform

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