Litigation

House Passes Campaign-Spending Disclosure Bill

By Peter Hardin

The House of Representatives passed 219 to 206 on Thursday a bill with more stringent requirements for special interest groups, unions and corporations to disclose their political spending. The Senate will consider the bill next.

Democratic leaders shaped the bill to soften the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in January, and they had support from President Obama. Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many other business groups opposed the measure, contending it was unconstitutional and would disadvantage corporations.

Some liberal groups opposed the bill after Democratic leaders made a deal with the powerful National Rifle Association to exempt it (see Gavel Grab).

“This legislation restores transparency and accountability to federal campaigns and ensures that Americans know when Wall Street, big oil and health insurers are the ones behind political advertisements,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, according to a Bloomberg article.

But Republicans assailed the legislation as an attack on the First Amendment and as granting favors to some groups but not others. “We’re so cavalierly dealing with the First Amendment,” protested Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-California.

The legislation would force corporations and unions to completely disclose political spending, Bloomberg reported, including for what are called “issue ads.” These typically are intended to elect an individual candidate, without directly asking voters to do so.

The legislation would require CEOs to appear in a company’s political advertising and state support for its message.

After the bill’s passage, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, “The Democratic majority in the House jammed through a piece of legislation that clearly violates the Constitution, as well as basic principles of fairness and equity.”

According to a Huffington Post blog post, Common Cause President Bob Edgar said the bill, called the DISCLOSE Act, “provides much needed transparency to our political process…[But] Congress needs to do more than simply pass DISCLOSE to ensure that the voices of average Americans are not drowned out by millions of dollars in special interest cash.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 24, 2010 (boomark / email).