Revisiting Campaign Finance Reform

After the Supreme Court decision on January 21st (see January 21st rant), Congress is in a tizzy! Ok, not all of Congress, more like the Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee (Dick Durbin, Russ Feingold, Chuck Schumer and John Kerry to be exact) are in a tizzy.

The plan? To attempt to limit election spending by government contractors (who have a direct monetary interest in who gets elected) and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies (I don’t really have to explain that one do I?). Under the old rules, U.S. subsidiaries could form Political Action Committees as long as they were funded solely by donations from U.S. employees and foreign nationals are not the ones deciding how to spend the money. The trick here, for all you accounting nerds out there, is what percentage a company must be foreign owned before regulations kick in?

Possibly the most interesting facet of the whole issue is Senator John McCain’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling. McCain, who broke ranks with Republicans in 2002 to cosponsor the McCain-Feingold act (part of which was overturned in the Supreme Court ruling), will not back efforts to address the court’s ruling. Most fascinating.

Also fascinating is the fact that the media is already saying that the Senate Democrats will probably need 60 votes to get the legislation (that isn’t even written yet) passed. The only reason 60 votes would be necessary would be to avoid a Republican filibuster. After Scott Brown is sworn in tomorrow (dang that was fast), the Democrats will officially “control” (as if the Democrats could actually keep anything really under control) 59 seats.