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American Morning
Campaign Finance Legislation Stalled
Aired July 13, 2001 - 09:21 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A bill to curb the influence of big money in politics is dead in Congress for now, at least for now. Campaign finance legislation is stalled indefinitely in the House of Representatives and each side is pointing fingers at the other. Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Campaign finance reform slipped into a coma Thursday. The top House Republican blamed the top House Democrat.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He doesn't want the results. He'd rather have the issue for a campaign issue.
CROWLEY: And vice versa.
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MAJORITY LEADER: What they've done constantly is tried to construct a process which will cause the defeat of the bill.
CROWLEY: They both have a point.
REP. ZACH WAMP (R), TENNESSEE: There's a lot of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle. I think there are a lot of people in the Congress that really don't want this to pass and the closer we get, the hotter the fire.
CROWLEY: Things blew up after a fierce 24 hour fury over ground rules for debate proposed by the Republican leadership. Supporters of the main reform package said that GOP rules were designed to kill the bill.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: We knew that the fix was on and that this was designed to be a process that would simply not provide for fair debate.
CROWLEY: Sponsors of the legislation, known as Shays-Meehan, conceded the delicate coalition behind their bill might crumble under the GOP debate blueprint. And so Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted against it and won.
UNIDENTIFIED REPRESENTATIVE: This was hard ball politics today. This would be a good political science day. CROWLEY: It was also a convoluted day. By winning the vote on the rules, Democrats killed, at least for now, the bill they want to pass.
UNIDENTIFIED REPRESENTATIVE: All we want is a fair vote up or down on campaign finance reform.
CROWLEY: And it's highly unusual for the party in power to lose a vote on the rules, but in losing, the Republican leadership was able to half a campaign finance reform bill they don't like and blame someone else.
REP. DAVID DREIER (R), CALIFORNIA: We're going to see crocodile tears shed by the Democratic leader. Dick Gephardt and his leadership team was, I believe, committed to bringing this measure down.
CROWLEY (on camera): From here it's anybody's guess. Supporters could force the issue, but that takes time. Or, the two sides could come to an agreement, but that might take a miracle.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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