Democratic Leaders Close to Agreement on Campaign Finance Bill
House and Senate Democratic leaders are nearing agreement on final details of the first comprehensive bill to tighten campaign finance rules since the post-Watergate reforms of 1974 and plan to push the long-delayed measure through Congress by the end of next month.</br></br>General outlines of the legislation are clear: It would set voluntary spending ceilings for congressional candidates, provide incentives for compliance and tighten controls over special-interest spending on federal campaigns.</br></br>Some narrower but important points have also been resolved. For example, there is language to shield EMILY's List, which has been highly successful in fund-raising for Democratic women, from a ban on "bundling" contributions by special interests that then forward them to candidates and reap the credit.</br></br>But critical details remain to be worked out. There is the possibility of a crash-landing in the Senate if the bill does not meet bottom-line demands of a half-dozen Republican moderates who hold the key to whether the GOP can mount a successful filibuster to block final passage.</br></br>Nearly a decade in the making, the legislation was blocked for several years in partisan deadlock. Congress finally passed a bill in 1992 but it was vetoed by President George Bush, and an attempt to override the veto failed.