Smith, Gregg Vote Against Campaign Finance Bill that Passed the Senate
WASHINGTON, March 20–Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) voted against the wide-reaching McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill that the Senate approved, 60-40, on Wednesday.
The two also voted against a motion earlier in the day to end debate on the bill that aims to reduce the role of special-interest money in politics.
The bill would ban corporations, unions and individuals from donating unregulated “soft money” to national political parties. It would allow individuals to double their regulated “hard-money” contributions to $2,000 per candidate per election. The measure would also forbid so-called issue ads for or against candidates from being broadcast in the final 60 days before general elections and the final 30 days before primaries.
The House passed its version of the bill on February 14, 240-189. Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), who signed a petition in January that forced a vote on the bill, voted for it. Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) voted against it.
The McCain-Feingold bill is now headed to President George Bush to be signed into law.
Gregg called the bill “a very poor piece of legislation” in an interview earlier this month. “I think it’s clearly, in my opinion, an affront to the First Amendment, to free speech significantly,” he said. “And secondly, it dramatically tilts the playing field away from parties and toward special-interest groups.”
Smith, in a statement, said the bill “hurts average Americans by limiting grassroots politics and by prohibiting the advocacy groups they support from fully representing their views.” He added that “full disclosure, not limitations on free speech, is the right kind of campaign finance reform.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to challenge portions of the bill in court.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
