Campaign Reform by Agencies Urged

President Clinton urged the heads of two independent federal regulatory agencies to take action to implement campaign finance reform, following the Senate’s blocking of reform legislation a day earlier. Clinton, on vacation near Salt Lake City, urged the Federal Communications Commission to provide free and reduced-rate broadcast air time to political candidates and said he would oppose any congressional efforts to block such moves. The president also wrote the Federal Election Commission, renewing a plea that the agency end the “soft money” system of unregulated donations to political parties. The system has been blamed as a factor in many campaign finance abuses in recent years.