WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., will introduce legislation Thursday to undo the pre-election political speech restrictions imposed by the McCain-Feingold law.
Bartlett's campaign reform legislation repeals those sections of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly known as McCain-Feingold, that ban non-PAC-funded issue advocacy for a specific period of time prior to a primary or general election.
"Federal government control of Americans' access to information about political candidates would be anathema to our nation's founders and eviscerates the central purpose of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech," Bartlett said.
His legislation also would eliminate the new prohibition on references to federal candidates in broadcast advertisements during 30 and 60 days before primary and general elections.
