Bring Reform to the Floor

Although President-elect George W. Bush will not take office until Jan. 20, Congress has already begun its 107th session. This period in Congress is usually one for deciding the leadership, setting committee assignments and preparing for the session to come. This year, however, Congress has more important business to pursue. The next 15 days offer a unique chance for Congress to curtail the powerful voices of the special interests in politics and to pass the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.

The political campaign seasons since 1996 have seen an explosion in the use of "soft money," the unregulated, unlimited and undisclosed donations that give immense political influence to those wealthy enough to contribute. Federal laws and regulations currently govern campaign donations to individual candidates, placing reasonable limits on contributions and opening the influence-trading process to public scrutiny. But these laws do not apply to the $451 million in soft money paid to political parties this election season. The sheer scale of the unregulated donations belies the American commitment to government of, by and for the people. The proposal sponsored by Senators John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Calif.) would prevent the parties from collecting and spending on behalf of their candidates the billions in soft money that would be illegal for candidates to collect and spend themselves. The American people have repeatedly called for an end to money's chokehold on the political process, and bipartisan majorities support the bill in both houses of Congress.

Unfortunately, despite these majorities in Congress, the bill still has not yet been presented for the president's signature. In the House, a Republican leadership under the sway of special interests such as gun owners and social conservatives--interests that fear their chokehold will be loosened if the McCain-Feingold bill passes--struggled mightily to keep the bill off the calendar. In the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster, the bill has been blocked by a diehard group of Republicans opposed to reform.

Yet the coming days may offer a new opportunity for the bill's passage. The results of the past election have left the Senate split 50-50, and until Vice President-elect Dick Cheney takes office Jan. 20, the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Al Gore '69 means the Democrats control the chamber--and its calendar. Although Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has expressed discomfort with advancing a full legislative agenda during these next two weeks, he should feel no qualms in bringing the McCain-Feingold bill to the floor so that the Senate would be forced to consider the measure in open debate. McCain believes he has the 60 votes to pass the measure over the Republican filibuster; in any case, we feel that those undecided Republican senators whose votes will be crucial would be wary of beginning their terms with a vote against reform.

A Senate victory would place the House under similar pressure, and although the House Republican leadership opposes the bill, the votes may exist to override the leadership's decision and put the bill up for a vote. If passed, the bill would present an early test of Bush's commitment to reform. Bush would then have 10 days to veto the bill or allow it to become law; a presidential veto of the leading campaign-finance reform bill would have severe political consequences and undercut Bush's credibility as a "reformer with results."

The McCain-Feingold bill is a necessary antidote to the excessive power of money in politics. An unparalleled opportunity now exists for its passage. Congress should not allow this opportunity to go to waste.