Obstructionists’ Last Stand

With luck, this day will see the last desperate stand of the foes of campaign finance reform in the U.S. Senate. Judging from a week and a half of debate, Senate sentiment strongly favors passage of the reform measure sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.). Barring last-minute maneuvers by Senate leaders to duck a final vote, McCain-Feingold should have passed the Senate by the end of the day Friday.

It would be a singular triumph for honesty and fairness in American politics. House passage surely would follow soon. Then, the buck would stop on the desk of President Bush, who says he is for reform but has opposed McCain-Feingold.

Bush may have to swallow hard--John McCain ran against him on this issue. But the president must sign this legislation into law. Americans want reform. And McCain-Feingold has survived years of assault and parliamentary trickery by its congressional opponents. This legislation has earned its place in America’s law books.

One potential stumbling block remains. There is a proposed “nonseverability” amendment that would invalidate the entire reform act if any part of it were declared unconstitutional by the courts. This turns normal legislative process on its head. Complex laws usually include a boilerplate paragraph that declares that the rest remains in effect if any part is invalidated by the courts; that’s the way it should be. But reform foes backing nonseverability know there is a constitutional question about an already approved amendment sponsored by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) that restricts certain issue-oriented advertising by special interests. They hope the Wellstone amendment would be declared unconstitutional and thus the entire reform law doomed. The people will see through this cynical ploy to kill reform without actually voting against it. The nonseverability amendment, expected to be debated today, should be defeated.

The major feature of McCain-Feingold bans the use of “soft money,” the unlimited contributions to political parties for party activities such as voter registration. They were not intended to be used to directly support candidates’ campaigns. But campaigns have exploited a loophole in the law to use this money just about any way they want. It has rendered the contribution limits in the 1974 reform law virtually meaningless.

McCain-Feingold will not eliminate all abuse in the raising and spending of hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign money every election cycle. There will always be another loophole. But this bill will sharply curb the biggest source of corrupting campaign spending, the one that led to the Clinton-Gore fund-raising scandal of 1996.

The opportunity for real campaign finance reform finally has come.