The Senate will have a cloture vote tomorrow on Sen. Chuck Schumer's DISCLOSE Act, a companion to Chris Van Hollen's House bill that passed in that body a month ago.
Schumer, chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee – which has jurisdiction over campaign-finance issues – dropped the new bill Wednesday night. By late Thursday evening, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed cloture on the legislation and announced that the Senate will vote on the motion to open debate on the bill Tuesday afternoon....
The bill would require corporations, unions and advocacy groups to reveal their roles in political ads or mailings in the closing months of a campaign. Companies that receive TARP funding and smaller government contractors are also barred from underwriting "electioneering communications."
In a conference call today, Schumer and co-sponsor Sen. Ron Wyden briefed reporters on some of the differences between this and the House version of the bill, the key difference being the equalization of labor unions and corporations in disclosure requirements, intended to cut short Republican objections that the bill favors Democrats. Wyden added that the bill adds on a requirement for Senate candidates to file FEC reports electronically, in addition to the electronic filing requirements for ad funders. The NRA exemption has been maintained.
In a somewhat pointed reminder to waiverer Susan Collins, Wyden detailed how in 1996 the two worked together to create a "Stand by your ad" amendment to McCain/Feingold. Whether the reminder of a time when she was fully behind disclosure in campaign financing will be enough to bring Collins along this time is unclear. Schumer only said that "We are working very hard on getting a Republican and there are a number of possibilities."
The White House is fully behind Schumer's effort, as HuffPo's Sam Stein reports.
President Obama gave a short address, likewise extolling the passing of new disclosure laws and demanding congressional action.
"There is a legislative process and then there is a vote and in a vote you get to decide what side you are on," spokesman Robert Gibbs said, previewing Obama's remarks. "Now we get to see who in the Senate thinks there is corporate interest and special interest money that dominate our elections and who doesn't."
This is a key tactic that Democrats frankly should have implemented months ago--aggressively pushing popular, tough-on-corporations bills that force Republicans to take these votes.