WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Senate's Democratic leader Thursday vowed immediate action on a campaign-finance reform bill that passed the House earlier.
The bill, which is similar to one passed by the Senate last spring, bans or limits unregulated contributions to political parties.
"The Senate passed a reform bill 10 months ago," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said. "The president now says he'll sign this bill. Today, we say to the House leaders: don't obstruct reform any longer. Send the Senate your bill. Do it today. Let us finish our work, and get this bill to the president for his signature."
"I'm going to seek consent to go to this bill the minute we receive it," he added. "We know there are still some in the Senate who think they may still have a chance to keep this bill from becoming law. And we say to them, look what happened in the House: opponents in the House used every conceivable argument and excuse -- every imaginable ploy to stop this. They failed, and so will you."
The bill -- sponsored by Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass. -- passed the House early Thursday despite tough opposition by the GOP leadership, which has consistently opposed limiting fundraising by political candidates. But with the recent revelations of political fundraising by now-collapsed energy trader Enron Corp., it became harder for many lawmakers to avoid voting for the bill.
"The two are totally unrelated," said a senior House Republican aide. "But with the public thinking 'Enron, politics, money,' it's hard to lobby against a reform bill. Most people don't take the time to learn a complicated issue like this, so some members were forced to vote for it out of fear they'd lose in November."
Daschle acknowledged that despite last spring's victory for reformers with the passage of a very similar bill, a filibuster could be coming.
"We're going to seek a time agreement to go to the bill right away, and if it looks like we're going to face a filibuster, we're going to find the time and find a way to break that filibuster," Daschle said. "This is the year we're finally going to pass campaign finance reform."
