Campaign finance bill passes House

Late change eases Bush concerns

JON FRANDSEN AND SUSAN ROTH, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- After a grueling and sometimes bitter late-night debate, the House voted 240-189 early today to ban most unlimited "soft money" contributions and to restrict some campaign ads -- moving the measure closer to becoming law than ever before.

Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., led supporters from both parties in fending off a dozen attempts to kill or undermine the bill, which would make the most significant changes to the nation's campaign finance laws since 1974.

With some members nodding off in their chairs after more than 16 hours of debate, the sponsors made one last-minute change just before the final vote began at 2:30 a.m. EST to ease concerns the White House raised during debate Wednesday.

Early in the debate, GOP leaders and the White House charged that language written during the final rush to polish the bill created a giant loophole that would give Democrats a huge financial advantage in the 2002 congressional campaign.

Question of advantage

While Republicans have been battling to defeat the bill for weeks -- including warning that its passage could mean "Armageddon" for the party -- President Bush largely stayed out of the debate, and the White House indicated he probably would sign a bill that reached his desk despite some reservations.

The White House decision to criticize the bill on the day of debate worried Shays-Meehan backers.

They repeatedly insisted no loophole existed and that opponents were trying desperately to manufacture an issue.

But Shays said they decided to make a parliamentary move to fix the language because "the president raised some concerns about it."

By preventing major changes to the bill, Shays and Meehan avoided having it sent to a House-Senate conference panel where differences are supposed to be worked out but where bills congressional leaders look upon unfavorably often die.

What's next

The Shays-Meehan bill now returns to the Senate, which passed a version last year for the first time after keeping it bottled up for years with filibusters, and into the care of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose upstart presidential campaign gave the issue prominence in 2000.

While passage there is not a certainty, McCain and Democratic leaders repeatedly have expressed confidence that they can muster the 60 votes needed to choke off another filibuster and send the bill to Bush.

Although the law would not become effective until after the 2002 elections, the parties would have to consider how to wean themselves from the soft money they have grown so dependent on in the past decade -- to the tune of nearly $500 million in the 2000 election.

The reform crowd's most significant victories before the final vote were a 241-191 vote accepting the Shays-Meehan bill over two GOP proposals and the 219-209 defeat of a measure that would have exempted some gun groups from broadcast ad restrictions.

Other votes

Other action on the bill included:

- Defeat of a provision that would ban noncitizens from contributing to political campaigns. The amendment failed 160-268 after Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., called legal residents "enemies of our state," fueling impassioned response from opponents.

- Passage, by a vote of 218-211, of a provision to double to $2,000 limits on contributions individuals may make for each primary and general election campaign. That matches an increase in the bill passed in the Senate. It was one of the few areas where Shays and Meehan split, with Shays supporting the increase and Meehan, like most Democrats, opposing it.

- Passage by voice vote of a provision that would allow candidates running against wealthy opponents to raise more hard money and receive additional party money.

- Defeat of a provision to limit restrictions on political ads involving civil rights and minority issues.

- Defeat of a substitute measure that included the original Shays-Meehan bill before sponsors made changes designed to enhance chances of passage in both houses of Congress.

Key provisions

- Soft money: The bill would ban largely unregulated, unlimited "soft money" contributions to federal candidates and national political parties.

- Hard money: Some limits in place would be raised for the first time since 1974.

- Issue ads: The bill would forbid labor unions, corporations and independent groups from airing ads that mention a candidate for 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election unless they use hard money donated to political action committees and the source is fully disclosed.

- State and local parties: The only exception to the ban on soft money would be up to $10,000 per source (or less, depending upon state laws) to state and local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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