As you may remember, yesterday we were trying to figure out who was the Republican Senator responsible for blocking unanimous consent to S. 223, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, a simple bill to force Senate candidates to file their FEC reports electronically, just as House and Presidential candidates do right now.
So, after every Republican issued some form of denial by yesterday, Sens. Feinstein and Feingold took to the Senate floor at about 1:30 this afternoon to seek unanimous consent again that S. 223 be voted on today.
On behalf of his caucus, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) announced there was a Republican objecting to unanimous consent. Responded Sen. Feinstein, "We will be back, and back, and back again."
Watch democracy and accountability screech to a halt here on YouTube.
(As far as why unanimous consent matters on passing this bill, Russ Feingold diaried the topic here.)
Who's up for a series of Start Snitchin' phone calls? Some Republican Senator hasn't been telling the truth, and the Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumenthal has a plan to reveal it:
Let's clarify the language and call every single Republican Senator and ask them if they registered an objection to S.223. Don't ask about secret holds or whether they support the bill. Just ask if the Senator registered an objection to the bill. Get the Senator on the record. Don't take the word of a Staff Assistant. Get the Senator to issue a statement and talk to someone who handles the issue. And don't just call your Senators, - call Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) too. He knows who the liar is and covering them up.
A list of all Republican Senators and their phone numbers is over here. If you don't have a Republican Senator (this offer good in AR, CA, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MI, MT, NJ, NY, ND, RI, VT, WA, WV, WI, and, yes, CT for these purposes), pick someone else's.
I called my one Republican Senator, Arlen Specter, and spoke to a staffer who said, "If it was Senator Specter, he's perfectly capable of making the objection himself," and that Sen. Specter hadn't mentioned the bill to anyone on his staff, and that he had given them no reason to believe he'd be objecting here. Which isn't exactly a "no," and I've left a message with the staffer there who should know for sure.
That leaves 48 for the rest of you. Make your calls, and then come back here and tell us exactly what they say. They can't keep using their secrecy to defend their secrecy for much longer.