WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats yesterday to require political fundraising groups to reveal their anonymous contributors who are fueling negative television advertisements ahead of the November election.
By a 51-44 party line vote, supporters of the Disclose Act of 2012 fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a Republican procedural hurdle.
But Democrats promised to debate the bill late into the night and seek another vote today, hoping to paint Republicans as thwarting transparency.
“This is too important an issue to let it die quietly,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the act a waste of time and said Democrats should instead try to remedy the ailing US economy.
“Think about it: we’ve had 41 straight months of unemployment above 8 per cent,” McConnell said. “But this is what they want to do.” President Barack Obama said in a statement that Republicans had a chance to “change it” but stood with corporate interests and “instead chose to block it.”
“If we allow this practice to continue, special interests will have unprecedented influence over politicians,” Obama said. The bill was drafted amid an outcry that political organizations were exploiting a tax law provision allowing certain “social welfare” groups meant to educate the public to collect unlimited contributions without disclosing their donors. Backers of the legislation say the loophole must be closed.
The debate stems from a divided US Supreme Court decision that opened the way for unlimited corporate and special-interest spending in elections.
The proposal defeated yesterday was a scaled-back version of a measure that was blocked by Republicans in 2010.
The centrepiece of the legislation would force tax-exempt “501(c)“ groups, which include labour unions and chambers of commerce, to publicly report any donor giving $10,000 or more to the Federal Election Commission.
The FEC, which oversees elections, is currently split along party lines and is deadlocked on whether social welfare groups must disclose donors if they engage in political activity.
