House Rejects Bid to Curb Election Funding

The House rejected a proposed constitutional amendment Thursday that would have given Congress and the states authority to restrict campaign spending and contributions.

The proposal, rejected 345 to 29, required approval by a two-thirds majority for passage. Fifty-one Democrats voted “present,” taking no position.

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who voted against the proposal, said Americans should know that advocates of the proposed amendment would limit their constitutional right to free speech.

Eleven pending proposals, he argued, would be unconstitutional unless such an amendment were adopted because the Supreme Court has said spending on campaigns is the same as speech. DeLay, who leads a group of House Republicans resisting change in the law, said he will oppose vigorously all efforts to limit free-speech rights.

But reform advocates said opponents were distorting the issue.

“Every time the anti-reformers say ‘free speech,’ they really mean ‘big money,’ ” said Rep. Thomas H. Allen (D-Maine), sponsor of a campaign reform bill drafted by freshman House members.

The vote also was intended to embarrass House Democrats, whose leader, Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, introduced it last year. Gephardt is now urging fellow Democrats to vote for an overhaul bill sponsored by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.).

That proposal bans “soft money,” or unregulated donations to national and state political parties from corporations, labor unions and individuals; regulate issue advertising by third parties; and expand disclosure requirements. President Clinton supports the measure, similar to campaign finance legislation killed in the Senate last year by a Republican filibuster.