Soft money alternative rejected

By NEW YORK TIMES

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2001

WASHINGTON -- The Senate handed a decisive victory Tuesday to the supporters of overhauling the campaign finance law, comfortably defeating a rival proposal that would have limited but not prohibited the unregulated, large donations to the political parties that escalated to nearly $500-million in the last election.

The 60-40 vote to kill the centerpiece of legislation sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., reflected strong Senate sentiment to enact the ban on the unrestricted contributions known as soft money. The ban is at the heart of legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russell D. Feingold, D-Wis.

Florida's Sens. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, both Democrats, voted against the measure.

The vote came as Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., confirmed reports that President Bush had told him he was prepared to sign the bill if it clears Congress, despite longstanding misgivings about the elimination of soft money, according to the Associated Press.

Although Hagel had the backing of the Republican leadership and tacit support from Bush, McCain and Feingold picked up a handful of new Republican supporters.

Even Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has long been the chief foe of the McCain-Feingold legislation, conceded that if any campaign finance bill makes it through the Senate this week, "it will not have a penny of soft money in it."

However, in a new reminder that the proposal by McCain and Feingold still faces perilous challenges as its sponsors try to shepherd their measure to passage, McConnell on Tuesday would not commit to a final vote on the campaign finance legislation on Thursday. And he left open the possibility of using parliamentary maneuvers, such as a filibuster, to block a final vote.

Other challenges also loom this week as McCain and Feingold struggle to bring their measure to passage, including the question of whether quarter-century-old limits on regulated donations will be raised and by how much. McCain and Feingold also are trying to fend off a provision that would kill the whole bill if the U.S. Supreme Court found any part of the measure unconstitutional.

Negotiations continued behind the scenes Tuesday over proposals to raise the limits on regulated contributions that individuals can make to candidates and political parties.

Supporters of the overhaul legislation also face a critical battle over whether the legislation will be subject to an all-or-nothing review by the Supreme Court. President Bush, as well as many Republicans and some Democrats, say that to ensure the bill is balanced they want to include a provision calling for the entire bill to be struck down if any part of it is found unconstitutional.

Bush says quick tax fix won't revive economy

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- President Bush urged lawmakers Tuesday not to let the momentum in the Senate for a one-time tax rebate serve as a substitute for his 10-year tax-cutting plan that he values at $1.6-trillion, saying that the immediate measure would not do nearly enough to revive the economy.

In a speech here that came as Bush's tax cut encountered growing trouble in the Senate, the president said that enacting a $60-billion quick-fix measure that many Senate Democrats and Republicans favor made sense only in concert with a broader, more permanent reduction in rates.

"Some in Congress want America to choose between these goals, to think of the moment and notthe future," Bush said. "Our economy needs more than a pick-me-up, more than a one-time boost." Nonetheless, as Bush spoke, Senate Democrats introduced legislation that would give all taxpayers a $300 rebate check this year and reduce amounts withheld from their paychecks by $150 more. Such a plan, some said, would relieve the pressure on them to vote for the president's 10-year tax plan.

But Bush argued in his speech, which underscored an intensifying political battle over who gets credit for responding best to Americans' economic pain, that the Democrats' plan was shortsighted.

"Our economic health depends on people feeling comfort and confidence about long-term decisions -- to start a new business, to invest in a new idea, to buy a new home," he said. "And the people who make those decisions don't care only about this year's tax rate; they care about next year's tax rate, and the year after that.

"Tax relief that gets yanked away next year is not such good news. Lower rates do not stimulate much economic activity, unless people can rely on them for years down the road."

Bush's nearly 30-minute speech, which ran much longer than his remarks on the stump usually do, represented one of his most forceful and wide-ranging attempts yet to make the case for his tax cut.

Bush's comments clearly reflected his administration's concern that the enactment of a rebate, cast as the tonic the economy needed, would further jeopardize the prospects for his entire package being passed, because lawmakers would feel they had taken action and satisfied voters. The president supports an immediate tax cut, as he made clear again Tuesday, but does not want it isolated from his plan.

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