|
|||
Late Breaking News |
|||
| Date: August 6, 1998 3:35 pm Contact: Democracy 21 Jennifer Fuson 202-429-2008 |
|||
Latest News Releases
|
Democracy 21 Statement on House Passage of Shays-Meehan Bill | ||
| WASHINGTON - August 6 - Following is a statement of Democracy 21
President Fred Wertheimer today on House passage of Shays-Meehan Bill to ban soft money: House passage of the Shays-Meehan bill represents an enormous step forward in the battle to shut down the corrupt soft money system that was at the heart of the massive campaign finance abuses in the 1996 national elections. The majority vote in the House -- and in the Senate earlier this year -- to ban soft money dispels the conventional wisdom in Washington that no one in American cares about the issue of money in politics. Majorities in the House and Senate do not vote to cut off $250 million in campaign funds if they believe that Americans don't care about the issue. The significant number of House Republicans who voted for the soft money ban also dispels the argument that the soft money ban is simply a partisan effort to take a financial advantage away from Republicans. That argument is also dispelled by the support for a soft money ban that has come from former Republican Presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford, former Republican Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker and Bob Dole, and former House Republican Leader Bob Michel. The bottom line here is that the corrupt soft money system is unacceptable to the American people and Members of Congress know it. That's why a majority in the House and the Senate have voted to ban soft money, despite repeated efforts in this Congress by reform opponents to declare the issue dead. Still standing in the way of this fundamentally important anticorruption legislation is the tough battle to overcome an obstructionist minority in the Senate, consisting of Republican Senators led by Majority Leader Trent Lott and Senator Mitch McConnell. It is important to keep in mind that these Republican Senators do not hold the majority point of view. They constitute a minority out to use procedural roadblocks to thwart the will of the American people and the majority in Congress, just as a minority of Senators did on civil rights legislation in the 1960s. The civil rights legislation was enacted. So too, will be the campaign finance reform legislation. If in the end, it does not prove possible to enact the soft money ban in the remaining days of this Congress, a very powerful foundation has been established to build on -- and win -- enactment of the ban early in the next Congress. Republican Senator John McCain is the key to the next round of this fight, which will take place in the Senate following the August congressional recess. Since February -- when a majority of Senators voted in favor of the McCain-Feingold soft money ban, but it was blocked by a minority filibuster -- Senator McCain, has been reluctant to further pursue the issue this year in the Senate. With the House passage of a soft money ban, however, Senator McCain should now be prepared to lead the Senate battle on this critical issue as soon as the Senate returns from its August recess. Bringing the soft money ban to the Senate floor in September will require Republican Senators who have opposed reform to re-examine whether they want to continue following Senators Lott and McConnell in lockstep to preserve the corrupt status quo, or whether they are now prepared to exercise the independent judgement that many of their House Republican colleagues just did in voting for the soft money ban. It also will show that Senate reform supporters are prepared to fight this battle over and over again, and are not prepared to allow a minority of Senators to stonewall the soft money ban legislation to death. Senator McCain has expressed reservations about pursuing this battle in September unless he knows he has the additional votes necessary to cut off a filibuster. But pursuing the ban on the Senate floor next month is necessary to press Republican Senators to end their support for a filibuster. Furthermore, the bill that will be pending on the Senate floor upon its return from the recess -- the Treasury-Post Office Appropriations bill -- is not subject to a filibuster, and it is open to a McCain soft money ban amendment. That's because the Senate reached an agreement on this bill just before it left for the recess that it would be subject to a few amendments and a final passage vote without any further debate being allowed. Senator McCain is free under the agreement to offer the soft money ban as an amendment to one of those pending amendments, without his amendment, or the bill, being subject to a filibuster. Senator McCain should announce that his first act in restarting the battle in September will be to offer the soft money ban as an amendment to the filibuster-proof Treasury-Post Office Appropriations bill. This would the put the ball in Senator Lott's court in deciding how to proceed and would get this critical battle started. Senator McConnell recently said about the House-passed soft money ban, "You're more likely to see Elvis again than to see this bill pass the Senate." Senator McConnell should watch out. Elvis may be in the house -- and the Senate -- sooner than he thinks. Special praise is due to Representatives Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) for the heroic and skillful leadership they have provided for the nation in challenging the political money culture in Washington and passing the soft money ban in the House. Special praise is also due to House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt and House Democratic Whip David Bonior for the powerful and effective leadership they have provided for the country in the successful House battle to pass the soft money ban. Each Representative who voted for the Shays-Meehan soft money ban deserves the country's thanks and appreciation for voting to help restore the health and integrity of our democracy. Recognition also must go to Speaker Gingrich for his unique contribution to the House reform victory. Speaker Gingrich's extraordinary abuses of the legislative process -- from reneging on his public promises to schedule the soft money ban legislation, to using manipulative and disingenuous floor procedures, to pursuing a death by delay and amendment strategy, to resorting to an unprecedented House filibuster -- served to keep the soft money issue in the public spotlight and helped build the strong bipartisan coalition that passed the soft money ban. The cynicism underlying the efforts of House Republican leaders in this fight is reflected in House Majority Whip Tom DeLay's comments after a House majority voted for the Shays-Meehan bill. Representative DeLay, according to The Wall Street Journal, stated "The timing kills 'em. The DeLay strategy worked. Delay, delay, delay." The hope underlying the successful efforts of House reform supporters is reflected in conservative Republican Representative Zach Wamp's comments prior to the vote. Wamp, a committed reform leader, described the vote on Shays-Meehan to Republican colleagues as "the moment of truth." -0- |
|||
