Senate nixes cloture on prohibiting political soft money

On October 19, by a vote of 53 to 47, the Senate rejected a motion to invoke cloture and end debate on an amendment to the Campaign Finance Reform bill (S 1593) sponsored by Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) that would have prohibited all "soft money" contributions to the national party committees and prevented unions from using dues for political purposes without the workers' consent Three-fifths of the Senate (60 votes) Is needed to invoke cloture.

Sen. Carl Levin (D.-Miss.) said the bill was necessary to fix the current "broken" laws. "Over the last@'ft V"M, we have heard story after story about con butions of hundreds of thousands of dollars from individuals, corporations, and unions, and even about contributions from foreign sources. Then the question Is, How is it possible, when the law says $1,000 to a candidate per election, that people can give $100,000?"

Sen. Wayne Allard (R.-Colo.) opposed the soft-money contribution ban for the very same reason-such laws usually do more harm than good. "Hard money was regulated, so soft money was Invented. If soft money Is banned, something else will take its place. The problem Is that the regulations and Laws that go further and further towards cutting money also go further and further towards unconstitutionality."

Sen. Robert Bennett (R.-Utah) echoed the sentiment that Laws could not fix what is "bro. ken" about the political system. "It boils down to those who are corrupt will be corrupt regardless of the system; those who are not corrupt will not be corrupt regardless of the system."

Co-sponsor Sen. Russ Feingold (D.-Wis.) said he wanted to eliminate even the appearance of corruption. 'There is no other way to put It. There Is an appearance of corruption. Them is an appearance of cravenness. There is an appearance of a smug confidence that the American people will not laugh out loud in disgust at the assertion that there Is no corruption near. There is an appearance of something terribly, terribly wrong that we refuse to fix."

Sen. Chuck Hegel (R.-Neb.) urged senators to seek other means of reW. whose constItutionality would not be so dubious "An outright ban on soft money probably is unconstitutional. Every court decision rendered so far on this issue has come down against an outright ban on soft money. But this unaccountable, unlimited flood of soft money cascading over America's politics should be checked We have constitutional limits on individual contributions-so-called hard money. Why then should it be so outrageous to examine limits on soft money?"

A "yes" vote was a vote to end debate and bring to a vote a campaign finance reform measure that would have banned all soft money contributions to national party committees. A "no" vote was a vote to continue debate on the bill and was, in effect, a vote against such a ban.

FOR THE CLOTURE MOTION: 53

REPUBLICANS FOR (8): Brownback, Collins, Hutchinson (Ark.), Jeffords, McCain, Roth, Snowe and Thompson.

DEMOCRATS FOR (45): Akaka, Baucus, Bayh, Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Breaux, Bryan, Byrd, Cleland, Conrad, Daschle, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Edwards, Feingold, Feinstein, Graham (Fla.), Harkin, Hollings, Inouye, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerrey (Neb.), Kerry (Mass.), Kohl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Mikulski, Moynihan, Murray, Reed (R.I.), Reid (Nev.), Robb, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Schumer, Torrioelli, Wellstone and Wyden

AGAINST THE CLOTURE MOTION: 47

REPUBLICANS AGAINST (46): Abraham, Allard, Ashcroft, Bennett, Bond, Bunning, Burns, Campbell, Chafee, Cochran, Coverdell, Craig, Crapo, DeWine, Domenici, Enzi, Fitzgerald, Frist, Gorton, Gramm (Tex.), Grams (Minn.), Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Helms, Hutchison (Tex.), Inhofe, Kyi, Lott, Lugar, MacK McConnell, Murkowsld, Niddes, Roberts, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith (Ore.), Specter, Stevens, Thomas, Thurmond, Voinovich and Warner.

INDEPENDENTS AGAINST (1): Smith (N.H.).

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