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American Morning

House Passes Campaign Finance Reform Bill At 3:00 AM

Aired February 14, 2002 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As we have been reporting, earlier this morning, the House passed some landmark legislation banning so-called soft money in political campaigns.

And CNN Congressional Correspondent Kate Snow joins us now from the Capitol. Were you up late with our elected representatives last night? Good morning.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was up -- I was up pretty late, until about midnight. I've got to tell you, though, Paula, our producer, Ted Barrett, he was up until 3:00 in the morning to be able to tell me what happened at the last minute. So he deserves a lot of credit this morning.

At 3:00 in the morning, sponsors of campaign finance reform will tell you, they had a decisive victory here. They put an end to what they call "legalized extortion." For the past decade, they will tell you, politicians have basically been beggars, having to go out and beg for what's called "soft money" from corporations, unions, largely unregulated cash. Under this bill, that soft money would go away. It would be banned in contributions to the national political parties. It would allow soft money to continue to flow to state parties, just for "get-out-the-vote" efforts.

This bill also changes ads. It limits political ads in the weeks before an election. And finally, it goes into effect on November 6th, that's the day after this coming election. Now, opponents tried to change that date, late last night, in one of their many amendments. Supporters said they were being hypocrites.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: What a wonderful proposition, from the party whose president, George Bush the first, in 1991 vetoed campaign finance reform. An amendment that says, "let's do it today," from the party that for ten years has delayed the adoption of campaign finance reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Now, Republicans tried 10 times to change or amend this bill and all 10 times they failed. Opponents said the bill contains loopholes that would allow some soft money to still get into the system. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JO ANN EMERSON (R), MISSOURI: This bill isn't true campaign finance reform. This bill is campaign finance hide-and-seek. The fact of the matter is, soft money will seek a place to hide. And there is a place to hide in this bill. Dark enough and big enough to provide cover for mountains of soft money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Now, the White House yesterday pointed to one particular loophole that they saw in this bill, Paula. And, at 3:00 am this morning or thereabouts, they changed that language to try to satisfy the opponents and the White House. That would seem to clear the way for the president to be able to sign this bill. Of course it does still have to go back over to the Senate, but I just got off the phone with Senator John McCain's office, he's one of the leaders over there. They say they don't think they're going to have any trouble getting it through the Senate and to the president's desk. Paula?

ZAHN: So, Kate, a lily -- a little earlier on, you talked about one of the chief concerns of opponents of this bill. But what were some of the other changes they tried to make at the last minute?

SNOW: They tried to make a lot of changes. They tried to pass a series of amendments. Some of them had to do with making this bill broader and more -- you know -- more comprehensive, banning all soft money all the time, everywhere, every how, and then others of the amendments had to do with just the opposite, and changing the rules so that it would make it easier to get soft money into the system. They were basically trying to do anything they could to change the House version of the bill so it wouldn't match what the Senate passed last summer.

The proponents call those "poison pills." That would mean it would get stuck, if you will, legislatively, in a conference committee and might never reach the president. But because all those changes were battled down, Paula, that means the bill largely matches what passed the Senate and that's why it can get over to the president rather quickly. Paula.

ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your cutting through the complexity of all this this morning.

SNOW: Sure.

ZAHN: Kate, thanks. Hey, take the night off. They're not going to be up till the wee hours of the morning this morning.

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