House members prepare for campaign reform battle

McCain promotes campaign finance reform to the House Tuesday.

By Ian Christopher McCaleb
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A broad coalition of House of Representatives members geared up Tuesday for what may be a spectacular chamber battle over their plan for a rehaul of campaign finance law, just hours after the Senate passed its own overhaul measure.

Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold, responsible for shepherding the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill through the Senate after six years of politicking, trekked from the Senate to the House Tuesday morning to link up with several supporters in the House.

The Senate passed the McCain-Feingold bill on Monday night by a 59-41 vote. The vote closed two straight weeks of debate on the measure.

VIDEO Sen. John McCain, (R) Arizona, and Sen. Russ Feingold, (D) Wisconsin, react to the approval of their bill Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   ALSO McCain-Feingold supporters ready for House battle McCain and McConnell -- the rivalry continues     MESSAGE BOARD Campaign finance reform    RESOURCES Status and summary of the McCain-Feingold reforms Hagel's bill status and summary (from Thomas)

The assortment of lawmakers that assembled in the House on Tuesday -- strange bedfellows under almost any other circumstance -- cited McCain and Feingold as inspirations, and declared before reporters that they were ready to go to war over a cause they believe is just.

The House Republican leadership has not scheduled a debate time for the campaign finance bill, which has knocked around the House for the last three years, but that bill, which has similarities with primary aspects of McCain-Feingold, had enjoyed considerably more success than its Senate counterpart before last night.

The House bill, drafted by Connecticut moderate Republican Chris Shays and Massachusetts Democrat Marty Meehan, passed the chamber twice -- in 1998 and again in 1999 -- when McCain and Feingold couldn't even get their bill to the Senate floor.

Then, the Republican majority in the House was more substantial than now. House GOP leaders, however, are digging in their heels this year, because they can no longer depend on the Senate to thwart the efforts of McCain and Feingold.

The McCain-Feingold bill would ban the unregulated, sometimes multimillion-dollar donations made by individuals, corporations and other organizations to the major parties, and would declare a moratorium on "issue advocacy advertisements" 60 days out from Election Day.

Amended on the Senate floor, the bill would raise the current yearly $1,000 "hard money" contributions made directly to individual candidates to $2,000.

McCain, the Arizona Republican who ran a maverick campaign for the presidency in 2000 based in large part on his aspirations to reform the elections financing system, poked sharp sticks at some GOP members of the House who are on the record as opposing House consideration of the Shays-Meehan bill.

McCain dryly invoked the names of House Republican Whip Tom DeLay, John Doolittle, R-California, and Bob Ney, R-Ohio, as he sought to exert pressure on members who do not want to see the bill reach the floor.

"...Congressman Doolittle, Congressman DeLay and Congressman Ney oppose the bill," McCain said. "That's very interesting."

"This bill doesn't need a lot of consideration," McCain insisted. "The House has considered it and passed it by large margins in past years. We don't want to take a lot of time away from the (wider Republican) agenda."

But the GOP agenda, as fixed by the Bush White House, is the very thing the House leadership is saying may be neglected or blown off track if campaign finance reform reaches the floor. Priorities such as tax cuts, appropriations, education and health care could suffer, they say, if campaign finance is expedited.

"We've been focused on getting tax relief for the American people, and that will take precedence right now," said John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois.

"This is a debate the American people need to have, but I think we have more important priorities right now -- getting tax cuts, getting this economy moving, getting an education reform package, patients' bill of rights -- these are, I think, higher priorities for the American people," Rep. Tom Davis, R-Virginia, told CNN.

Those in attendance Tuesday, however, argued that almost none of the items on that agenda can be addressed equitably without campaign finance reform.

"We can't get fair decisions made on the merits of any of the issues before us in Congress as long as we have this soft money system," Meehan said.

"Don't underestimate the power of our bipartisan coalition in the House," warned conservative Republican Zack Wamp of Tennessee.

"While we're here turning our last names into verbs, I'm congressman Wamp," he cracked, gesturing toward McCain. "I have received the grenade from our war hero, Sen. McCain, and we will deliver it into the laps of the special interests here in Washington."

For all of this bipartisan group's expressions of confidence, there was some underlying measure of worry. Should the Shays-Meehan bill reach the House, be amended and then pass, it would have to be taken into conference with the Senate, so the two could be reconciled.

That could spell doom for campaign finance reform, Shays said.

"It's very simple," he said. "If we go to conference, we are allowing the opponents of campaign finance to write the bill."

The bill that passes must resemble McCain-Feingold, Shays said, save for some expected "technical corrections."

The leadership of the House and Senate, Meehan interjected, could exert the sort of influence in the bill in conference that it could not on the floor of either chamber. House Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi -- both opponents of McCain's and Shays' versions of reform -- would have the right to appoint the majority of conferees.

Still, his challenges won't end with the completion of a successful conference.

Should a completed campaign finance bill be signed into law by President Bush, who has indicated he would be willing to sign a bill that "improves the system," it could face court challenges mounted by Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has long opposed campaign finance reform on constitutional grounds.

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McCain-Feingold foe vows court battle if reform measure becomes law
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Hagel's 'soft money' limits fall in Senate
March 27, 2001
Senate OKs 'real setback' to McCain-Feingold bill
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March 22, 2001
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Senate OKs first change in campaign finance bill
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Federal Election Commission
  • Campaign Finance Law Resources
Election and Campaign Finance Law
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona

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